Among The Dead
by foreign-groupie
Summary: Witnessing everyone around her eating one another, Angela Brown fled her home and took safety at the Crossroads Mall, under C.J's watchful eye. With a new character added into the story of the zombie apocalypse, dramatic changes take place, especially with one certain security guard. C.J/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the 2004 or 1978 film Dawn of the Dead; I own Angela and any other unfamiliar characters. **WARNING!** Rated T for violence, death, gory scenes, and any other adult content.

Chapter One

Time moved painfully slow for Angela Brown as she stared up at the clock. Dropping her pen, she began thrumming her fingers on the old, wooden desk, looking down at the homework sheets she had just marked. Whispers and mumbles filled the large classroom as her students completed their set worksheets, though Angela didn't mind the quiet chatter, as she hated a silent classroom.

Feeling her heavy eyelids droop, Angela abruptly sat up straight, taking a well-needed sip of her coffee. She couldn't wait until the last bell would ring. Sighing under her breath, she picked up her pen, continuing to mark homework.

For ten minutes, Angela marked the sheets of work, glancing at the clock every few minutes. As her eyes threatened to close again, the shrill shriek of the school bell rang, causing Angela to jump, caught off guard by the noise. Being last period, the students were quick to jump out of their seats, a chorus of chairs scraping and animated conversations filling the classroom. Before they left, Angela quickly stood from her desk, straightening her skirt as she walked to the front of the classroom.

"Remember, class, tomorrow is the deadline for the Shakespeare; the principle is coming in here tomorrow to watch you all present them." She announced.

The room was suddenly filled with sighs and moans, a couple of students looking worriedly at each other. Angela smiled as she shook her head.

"If you need some help doing last-minute touches, come to my room at lunch and I'll help, even though this was homework."

All of her students sighed of relief, some even thanking her. Luckily for Angela, she was a well-respected teacher, by her students and fellow faculty members; everyone seemed to like her, which made her job as a teacher much more bearable.

Receiving the last of her goodbyes from her students, Angela sat at her desk and sighed heavily as she looked at the mountains of work piled on her desk. Usually, Angela would stay behind at the school to finish off marking assignments and essays, but her heavy eyes were telling her she needed rest. Grabbing her shoulder bag, she dropped it on the desk and began to pack away the paperwork she needed.

With heavy bag in tow, Angela locked her classroom and began to make her way to the exit, her heels clicking throughout the empty hallway. Opening the entrance doors, Angela greeted the afternoon sun. A smile appeared on her lips as she walked over to her car, waving to a few of the other teachers. As she started her car, music drifted softly through the car and Angela began to nod her head in time with the beat, feeling much more relaxed. The drive was peaceful, the streets quiet as Angela drove through the town.

Turning the corner into her neighbourhood, Angela quickly slammed on her breaks as a police cruiser came into view, blocking her path.

"Shit." She muttered, rubbing the back of her now sore neck.

"Ma'am, please turn around or move along." A voice suddenly ordered.

Looking up, Angela saw a police officer standing in front of her car. With his arms crossed over his chest, he stood beside his cruiser, which blocked two cars from Angela's sight.

"Why, what's happened, officer?" She questioned, craning her neck curiously to get a glimpse.

Getting a better view, Angela could see that the two cars had crashed into each other on a head-on collision. Bonnets on both cars had merged into each other, the windscreen cracked in on itself. The bumper on one car had been completely torn off, lying in the middle of the road. Angela couldn't see anyone inside either car, as she hoped no one was seriously hurt, but she noticed a bloody hand print smeared across the windscreen on the second car.

Her view was immediately cut off as the officer stood in her line of sight.

"There's been a serious accident, ma'am, and paramedics are on their way." He explained. "So, please move along or turn around."

With a huff, Angela gave a small nod before reversing, taking a different route home. A few minutes later, Angela saw the familiar white, brickwork house, pulling into the paved driveway. Switching off the engine, she noticed her roommate's car, which was now parked in the usual spot in front of the house.

Grabbing her things, Angela exited her car, locking it as she began to walk up the steps that led to the porch. Before she even opened the door, she could hear her roommate laughing loudly. Chuckling to herself, Angela opened the front door and entered the house, shaking her head at the sight she saw as she closed the door.

Her roommate, Cathy, sprawled out on the couch, her head hanging off the edge of the seat as her legs swung in the air. Dressed in sweatpants and an oversized shirt, she held the house phone to her ear, her head looking back as Angela entered the room.

Giving Angela a little wave with her fingers, Cathy smiled as she laughed into the phone.

"Okay, I've got to go now, Angela's home. Love you, baby! Bye!" Cathy chirped, pressing the end button, disconnecting the call.

"Was that Mark?" Angela asked as she dropped her overweight bag on the dining table, giggling as she imitated her friend. "'Love you, baby.'"

"Oh, shut up." Cathy chuckled as she fumbled off the couch, returning the phone to its cradle. "Anyway, you're home early."

"I know, I decided to bring all the work home to mark." Angela yawned, stretching her arms. "Hey, did you see that accident up the street?"

Flopping back ont the couch, Cathy grabbed the television remote as she hummed in answer. "Yeah, I saw it on my way home from work. It looked bad, but the stupid cop told me to take a different route."

Angela frowned at her friend, unpacking the paperwork from her bag. "Wait, you've only just come home? I thought your shift ended at two, since you were in early."

"Hm, I thought so too." Cathy mumbled.

Kicking off her heels, Angela sat on the couch next to her, raising a questioning brow. "Why did they keep you in so late?"

Cathy sighed, rubbing her temples. "Today was crazy. Out of all the years working in that hospital, I've never seen so many people rushed in, and for the same thing as well! All of them had been 'attacked'-"

"Attacked?" Angela interrupted. "Like, from an animal?"

"Nope." Cathy replied, popping the 'p'. "Apparently, it's related with these riots that have happened recently, but anyway, trying to treat these people was hard enough. I mean, I was running around everywhere all day, and one of the patients bit me-"

Angela gasped in horror. "Bit you?"

"Oh, don't worry." Cathy said, waving her hand in a nonchalant manner. "He wouldn't let the doctor give him a shot of morphine, so I and another nurse had to restrain him. In the process, he bit me on the hand. He only got me a little, but I still had to have it bandaged."

Bringing said hand up, Angela cringed as she stared at the heavily bandaged hand. Carefully inspecting it, she saw that the bandages wrapped mainly around Cathy's palm and thumb, tiny dots of blood seeping through.

"Shit, Cathy. I know some patients have spat or scratched you, but bite you?" Angela mumbled in disbelief.

Shrugging, Cathy returned her hand to her lap as she began to flick through the channels on the television.

"It's happened before to other doctors and nurses; it's nothing. Just a bitch that it happened to me." Cathy chuckled, though Angela couldn't see the funny side of it.

"Anyway," Cathy suddenly said. "Now that you're home, look what I brought for us."

As Cathy began to reach behind the back of the couch, Angela curiously tried to steal a peak, but her friend swatted her away. Cathy then sat up right with a bag in her hand, revealing a very large bottle of red wine. Angela's face dropped.

"Oh, no…"

"You mean 'oh, yes'." Cathy smiled, also pulling two glasses and a corkscrew from the bag.

Angela rolled her eyes, twirling strands of her brunette hair around her finger. "You do know that we have work tomorrow. Remember the last time we drank on a work night? _I_ ended up calling in sick while _you_ puked up in work."

Cathy shrugged, opening the bottle and pouring the wine. "Well, we won't get as tipsy-"

"Drunk."

"-as last time." Cathy finished, though she sighed as Angela glared at her. "Oh, come on, Angela! Live a little."

"I'm too old for this." Angela moaned, rubbing her eyes with her palms.

"You're thirty-two, Angela." Cathy laughed. "You're practically in your prime."

"Sure as hell doesn't feel like it." Angela muttered.

"All the more to drink!" Cathy exclaimed. "Angela, just have one drink with me, just to relax yourself. You deserve it after all the shit you've been through recently."

Sitting there, Angela debated whether it was worth to give in to her. She was certain she was going to end up drunk again, but then again, Cathy was right; she needed this.

Throwing her hands into the air, Angela sighed. "Fine."

Half an hour later, Angela wore a pair of grey sweat pants and a yellow pyjama top, sipping on a large glass of wine. The two friends ended staying up late, giggling like schoolgirls, finishing off the bottle of wine, and watching movies. Angela fell asleep at around one in the morning, waking up in the morning very groggy and very hung over.

A mixture of a moan and a yawn escaped her lips as she stretched her whole body, waiting for a moment before daring to open her eyes. Feeling a little woozy, she sat up slightly and felt around for her alarm clock with one hand, rubbing her head with the other. Once she finally found the small, hard, plastic cube, she brought it towards her face and read the time; five-thirty AM.

Angela frowned. It was far too early, an hour before Angela even had to get up. Sitting up straight, she wondered why she had woken so early.

As if to answer her question, a startling scream, followed by a screech of tires and then a thundering crash, came from outside. The loudness of the crash caused Angela to gasp, bundling the quilt up to her chin.

"What the hell?" She whispered to herself as silence fell again.

Deciding to investigate, Angela slowly pushed the covers off herself, moaning once again as her head throbbed painfully. Feet touching the softness of the carpet, Angela rose off her bed and stumbled out of her room, careful not to make too much noise.

Following the scream she heard, Angela crept down the hallway and into the living room. Walking up to the large window on the other side of the room, she timidly pulled back the curtain, peaking through the gap, only to gasp in sheer terror a moment later. Her throbbing headache seemed the least of her worries as she stared with wide eyes at the carnage before her.

Thick smoke rose in the clear sky, forming a black cloud above two cars that had crashed into each other, creating horrendous damage. One car had flipped on its side, while orange flames licked the second car's bonnet. Beyond the wreckage, a family were frantically throwing their belongings into their car, the father shouting for them to hurry. Across the street, Angela saw a woman running with two men chasing her, snarling and screaming at her.

Disappearing down the street, the two men tackled the woman to the ground. Her screams echoed through the street as Angela saw a mob of people kicking and pounding on a neighbour's door. The one thing that disturbed Angela deeply was that she noticed half of those _things_ had blood covered on them, as if they came from a horror film.

Hearing a blood-curdling scream, Angela jumped, stumbling away from the window as she took a shaky breath.

"Cathy!" She suddenly cried, turning away from the window.

A loud, hard thud echoed through the house, causing Angela to pause momentarily. She slowly turned towards the hallway, where another thud, louder than before, sounded again. Warily, Angela slowly ventured into the hallway, passing her own room. Noticing Cathy's bedroom door was wide open, Angela peeked in to see if her roommate was okay.

"Cathy?" Angela whispered, flinching when a bang from the bathroom answered her.

"Cathy?" Angela said again, slightly louder as she began moving towards the bathroom. "Are you okay?"

The bathroom door was slightly ajar, leaving enough room for Angela to glance inside. In the bathroom, Cathy stood still as a statue, though Angela noticed something odd about her. Her usual peachy skin was a sickly pale colour, while her head and arms hung loose on her body. Looking at her injured hand, Angela saw the bandage shredded and soaked in blood, leaving the nasty wound on show.

Knocking lightly on the door, Angela peered her head inside. "Hey, are you-"

Before Angela could finish her sentence, Cathy spun around and charged at Angela, who yelped and backed away from the door. The door slammed open, vibrating as it nearly flew off its hinges. Cathy crouched in the doorway, clawing at the wood as she growled at Angela like a wild animal.

Angela stared at Cathy in horror, noticing that Cathy eyes had completely whitened, her pupil and iris glossed over. Thickly clotted blood dribbled from her mouth, Cathy snapping her teeth at Angela before running towards her. Both of them crashed to the floor, Cathy straddling Angela as a tribal-like scream ripped from her throat.

"Cathy, get off me!" Angela screamed as she restrained her friend back.

Cathy responded by trying to bite Angela's face, though Angela held her back by straightening her arms up, pushing Cathy away. Blood splattered on Angela's chest as Cath snapped her teeth at her, but Angela had managed to slide her feet on Cathy's stomach, finally kicking her off. Cathy's body connected with the opposite wall, her back smacking it with an audible crack.

Backing away, Angela grabbed the wall for support as she stood up, eyes on her friend.

"Cathy, what is wrong with you?" She gasped as she tried to suck in as much air as possible.

Seemingly unfazed by the action, Cathy jumped to her feet, a vicious snarl leaving her mouth as she stared at Angela. Turning on her heel, Angela pushed herself from the wall as she began to sprint down the hallway, bare feet thumping on the floor after her. Running through the living room, Angela pushed a coffee table over as she ran past, hoping it would slow Cathy down, but as she looked back, Cathy leapt over the table as if it were a simple hurdle.

Running into the kitchen, Angela slammed the kitchen door shut, pushing her body weight against it as Cathy ran into it. Her fists began to pound into the wooden door, so hard that Angela could feel the door shake violently. Grabbing one of the kitchen chairs, Angela slid it under the handle, wedging it into place so the door couldn't open. On the other side, Cathy continued to punch the door, even butting her head against it.

Collapsing on the floor, Angela wept as she curled up into a ball, bringing her knees to her chin. Her heart thumped heavily against her rib cage, the blood rushing through her veins. With teary eyes, Angela stared up at the door, wondering what had happened to her friend.

"Cathy, stop!" Angela shouted through tears, but that only enraged the monster behind the door. "What happened to you?"

As she shouted at her friend, the door suddenly splintered, a large crack running down the middle of the wood. Staring at the crack with wide eyes, Angela knew that if she didn't escape, that thing would get in there.

Slipping on the spare pair of sneakers that Angela kept by the back door, she got up from the floor, wiping her red eyes with the back of her hand. Angela needed to get to her car, but as she looked for her keys, she realised she had left them in her bag, which was sitting on the table in the living room.

"Shit!" Angela muttered, smacking her hand against the table in frustration.

She looked around the kitchen in despair, thinking what she could do, when her eyes suddenly landing on a pair of silver keys on the counter. Angela sighed, feeling foolish that she forgot Cathy always left her keys and phone on the counter. Quickly snatching both items off the counter, she ran to the back door, fumbling to unlock it as Cathy continued to ram into the kitchen door. Throwing the door open, Angela gave one last glance at the woman, the former shell of Cathy, before stepping outside.

Keeping her back pressed to the wall, Angela crept along the side of the house, hearing the screams of her neighbours. As she emerged into the driveway, she choked on a gasp as she stared at the horror before her.

Only a few feet into the road, Angela saw her neighbour lying on the ground, crying for help as his wife and daughter tore his stomach open and feasted on his intestines. Angela clamped her hand over her mouth, forcing the vomit that was building up in her throat back down as she crouched lower to the ground.

"What the fuck is happening?" She whispered to herself.

An inhuman growl ripped Angela from her thoughts. She slowly turned her head to face her neighbour, or _something_ that resembled her neighbour, that stood on the opposite side of the small, brick wall that separated the two houses. The thing stared at her with milky eyes, blood dripping from its mouth. Angela could feel the bile rising back into her throat as she realised one of its arms had been completely ripped off, flesh and muscle dangling from its shoulder.

Heart pounding in her ears, Angela slowly began to back away, only for the monster to follow. Turning on the tips of her toes, Angela sprinted out of her crouched place to Cathy's car. Behind her, she could hear the animal-like scream of the monster as it began to chase her. A scream unwillingly left Angela's throat as she could hear the thing catching up to her. Slamming into the driver's door of the car, Angela jammed the keys into the lock.

Unknowingly, her scream had attracted attention off the woman and daughter, who had left the dead body and began running towards Angela as well. Getting the door open, Angela scrambled inside and closed it with shaking hands, one of the things throwing itself against the door a few seconds later. His bloodied fists smacked against the window, leaving streaks of red.

As Angela started the engine, the other two started hitting the car, but Angela just smashed her foot on the pedal, not caring as she hit one of the monsters. Speeding off down the street, tears blurred Angela's vision as she swerved through the road, trying not to hit anything else. Her sobs filled the silence in the car, the radio crackling as she turned into another road.

Angela didn't know what to do; in a space of five minutes, her former friend attacked her in an animal frenzy, forced out of her home, and watched as those monsters destroyed her neighbourhood. Wiping tears from her eyes, Angela pressed random buttons on the radio, seeing if any stations were working. A voice suddenly crackled and Angela left it to see what it said.

"Please, stay in your homes and… up your doors and windows… If you come into contact... the infected… aim… the head…"

After the short message, the radio went dead, but Angela was left even more confused and scared.

"Infected? Aim for the head?" She questioned.

Thinking over the words, the situation sounded awfully familiar as a shiver crept up her spine. It sounded like something off a horror film, a zombie film being exact, but that was crazy. Angela knew that there was no such thing, right?

Shaking her head, Angela drove deeper into the town, her stomach tightened as she stared at the carnage around her, her eyes not believing what they were witnessing. People ran through the streets, the 'infected', as the radio called them, chasing after them. Multiple cars sped past Angela and overtook her, desperate to escape the town. Glancing in her rear-view mirror, Angela saw a car speeding behind her, until a sixteen-wheeler truck slammed into it and crushed it off the road.

"Oh, my God." Angela whispered through her sobs.

With her eyes off the road ahead and her attention focused behind her, Angela didn't notice the car in front had halted to a stop. Inside the car, the driver was fighting off his infected girlfriend, who clawed at his face. Sinking her teeth into her lovers cheek, the driver screamed as he kicked at the steering wheel, causing the horn to blare loudly. This caught Angela's attention, and as she looked forward, she screamed and swerved out the way at the last second.

Luckily, she missed the car by mere inches, but caused Angela to swerve into a closed road and crash through pylon cones and a stop sign. Angela lost control of her steering as the car sped down the rigid side road, the car taking its own course. Finally, the side road ended and Angela came to a split road, but she still couldn't take control and ended up crashing into a concrete barricade.

With the impact, her whole body flew forward into the airbag that blew up in her face, cushioning her from the hard dashboard. The engine cut off, leaving Angela in silence as smoke rose from her car.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the 2004 or 1978 film Dawn of the Dead; I own Angela and any other unfamiliar characters. **WARNING!** Rated T for violence, death, gory scenes, and any other adult content.

Chapter Two

Angela's body lay lifeless, unresponsive to the world around her. She sat limp in the driver's seat, slumped over the steering wheel.

A few moments later, her head emerged from the deflated airbag, gasping for breath as she groaned loudly. Eyes fluttering open, she moaned as her head throbbed, swelling like a balloon. A trickle of warm blood ran down her forehead and over the bridge of her nose. Tasting the coppery substance in her mouth, Angela cringed as she sat up against the seat, her muscles screaming at her. Looking down at herself, shards of glass, broken from the windows, covered her body.

"Fuck." She suddenly moaned, a sharp pain shooting up her side, causing her body to stiffen.

Lifting her shirt up, it revealed a small chunk of glass had embedded itself in her waist. Angela knew it wasn't in too deep to do damage, but it still caused her pain. She knew she couldn't take it out yet, in case she made it worse.

Gathering her bearings, she took a deep breath before opening the door. Glass crunched under her sneakers as she stepped out into the open, her body leaning against the ruined car for support. As well as her throbbing head and the glass stuck in her side, her neck and shoulders ached terribly.

Turning her attention to the car, she could now see the full extent of the damage. The front of the car was completely ruined; the bonnet crushed against the concrete barricade. One of the front tires had fallen off and rolled away, while all the windows had smashed. Angela knew that the car was useless now.

"Guess I'll have to go on foot." Angela whispered to herself, but without a car, Angela couldn't travel far, especially in her condition.

Stumbling to the concrete barricade, Angela rested against the chain-link fencing, sighing as she closed her eyes. When opening them again, her eyes fell on a large building. Frowning, Angela squinted, suddenly realising she was staring at the Crossroads Mall. The mall itself still looked intact, the parking lot deserted of both cars and infected.

Angela stared at the mall in amazement, realising it would be perfect for a safe haven. In her head, she thought about what the mall could supply; endless amount of food and water, medical supplies, lockable doors and heavy shutters. Angela also wondered if the night shift security guard might still be there.

Knowing there was nowhere else to go, and the fact she didn't have much choice, Angela decided she would try the mall for help. Before she could take a step though, a scream in the distance interrupted her thoughts.

Behind her, two infected ran down the side road she had just came from. She realised they must have followed her when she swerved off and crashed through the stop barrier. Cursing aloud, Angela, seeing no other way in, climbed on top of the crushed bonnet of her car and began to climb the chain-link fence.

Gritting her teeth at the pain, the screams behind her motivated her to climb the fencing as quick as she could. Swinging her legs over and dropping herself, she landed safely on the other side just as the infected slammed into the fence, teeth gnawing at the metal. Giving them one last glance, she turned around and began running through the parking lot.

She limped slightly, but chose to ignore it as she ran to the huge set of doors at the mall entrance. The car park was deathly silent, no car, person, or thing in sight. It have her chills, glad when she finally reached the doors. Disappointment ran through her body though, as when she tried to open the doors, they were all bolted shut.

"Shit!" She muttered, pulling and pushing on the doors, even though she knew they wouldn't open.

Angela needed to get into this mall, so she wasn't going to give up just yet.

Creeping around the side of the building, which seemed deserted as well, Angela checked other doors, hoping some were open, but to no avail. Every single door, locked tightly. Even the windows were too high for Angela to reach, that is, until she saw one around the back. Upon closer inspection, Angela realised the window was just low enough for her reach. Asigh of relief escaped past her lips as she stumbled towards it, hands gliding across the rough brick wall for support.

Looking through the frosted glass, making sure it was safe, Angela realised that it was a bathroom. Gripping the side, she tested to see if it was open. Slowly, the window slid out-of-place. It was stiff, though that wasn't a problem for Angela, as the window progressively opening.

While working on the window, the air suddenly shifted as Angela felt a presence behind her.

Looking behind her, a figure of a man could be seen in the distance. From the side, he looked completely normal and Angela debated on whether to attract his attention, but as he turned to face her, her heart dropped.

Half of his arm had gone, torn off just a stump attached to his body, and he growled as his white eyes landed on her.

"Fuck!" She squealed to herself as she turned back to the window, heart picking up pace.

Snarls echoing through the empty car park, the infected man began running towards Angela, who pushed the window with all her strength. The window was halfway open when it stopped, the rust causing it to stick. Eyes widening, Angela struggled to push the glass as her heart froze.

"No! Don't do this to me!" She panicked, hitting the glass with her fist.

Hearing the howls of the infected coming closer, Angela grabbed the glass with both hands and began to wiggle it, hoping that would loosen it. With one last hard push, in a desperate attempt, the window slid open fully. Pulling herself up, Angela slid through the opening and into the bathroom, her body suddenly connecting with the cold, hard floor.

"Ow, fuck!" She yelled, grasping at her shoulder.

Quickly crawling from the floor, she slid the window shut just as the thing slammed his face into the window, his rotten teeth scraping against the glass. Locking it, Angela stared at him, looking into his white eyes for a moment before backing away.

"I did it…" She whispered to herself, leaning against the cool wall, which soothed the muscles in her back.

Regaining her breath, her heartbeat began to slow as she stared at the monster behind the window. She studied everything about it; its facial expression, movement, injuries, and even the noises it made. Everything about it seemed human, but at the same time, it didn't. It's blank eyes held no emotion, just rage as it stared at Angela. Snarls and hisses came from its mouth, no real words forming.

Her previous thoughts echoed in her head; could they really be zombies? Angela was a big fan of horror movies, so from all the zombie movies she has watched, all the symptoms were the same as this. They only main reason she didn't know was whether they were dead or not.

She sure as hell wasn't going to test that theory any time soon.

Pushing her thoughts to the back of her mind, Angela shook her head as the infected man outside gave one last frustrated scream before disappeared from the window. Angela pushed herself off the bathroom wall, stretching her sore limbs and hearing bones crack. She decided to venture out into the mall, as someone must here.

Peeking through the partly open door, Angela scanned the area she could see. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, surprising since an outbreak had happened. Seeing as everything was clear, she slinked out quietly, shutting the door behind her quickly.

Angela's whole body suddenly froze as the sound multiple gun clicking echoed behind her.

For a long and strained moment, Angela stood silent, her heart in her throat. She slowly raised her hands in the air, signalling to whoever held her at gunpoint that she was friendly. Finally, the silence broke.

"Turn around." A male voice commanded.

With her still hands still visible, Angela slowly turned to meet three male figures. All three men wore security uniforms, two of them pointing guns at Angela whilst the third one held his gun by his side. Angela took note of the three guardsapperiance.

Seeming the youngest of the three, the first security guard looked no older that eighteen, his hand shaking slightly as he held his gun at his side. The second one seemed older, around early twenties, unlike the last guard, who seemed older than the two. With his gun firmly pointing at Angela, the last security guard seemed to have a sense of authority about him as he scratched his moustache. Angela felt wary of him.

The eldest one looked at Angela, his gun still aimed at her.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned.

"W-what?" Angela replied, not entirely sure what he meant by the question.

"I said, what are you doing here?" He repeated more firmly.

Angela's mouth hung open for a moment, trying to find her words. "I crashed my car and was nearly attacked by those things, so I came here for help."

Staring at her for a few moments, he scratched his moustache once more before shaking his head. "This is our mall."

A frown appeared on Angela's face as she cleared her throat. "Your mall?"

_"Our_ mall." The second guard suddenly stated, flashing Angela a stupid grin.

"So, what, can't I stay here?" Angela asked, wondering if they would kick her out.

The oldest security guard just stared back at Angela, his gun still pointing at her, and her eyes widened before glaring at him.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You can't kick me out!" She argued.

As the aggression showed in her voice, the older security guard gripped his gun tighter.

"Hey, lady, I'm the one holding the gun here, so you just calm the fuck down." He warned.

Angela ignored him, continuing to argue with him. "You can't force me back out there! I nearly fucking died because of those infected fuckers."

"There are plenty of other places to go." He argued back.

"But this is the safest!" Angela cried, beginning to panic.

Before the security guard could argue back, the youngest one stepped forward in between Angela and the guard. "C.J,c'mon, she's hurt and she's on her own… we can't just kick her out."

As Angela sucked in a deep breath, a sharp pain shot up her side where the glass was still stuck in her and she muffled a whimper, clutching her side.

_"Please-"_ She began to plead. "Please, let me stay. I won't cause any trouble."

C.J, as the young guard called him, stared at Angela as she begged, flickering his eyes to the bathroom.

"Is there anyone else with you?" He questioned.

"No." Angela replied. "No, it's just me."

Silence fell upon the group, Angela breathing heavily as the older guard stared at the young guard before turning back to Angela. After a few seconds of silent staring, C.J lowered his gun slightly, clearing his throat. His eyes flickered to her injured side.

"What happened to your side? It wasn't one of those things, was it?" He asked suspiciously.

Angela suppressed a groan and began to explain. "No. When I crashed my car just outside the parking lot, some glass must have gotten stuck into it."

The guard still stared at her, narrowing his eyes.

"None of those things touched me, okay." She stated firmly.

"What's your name?" He asked, his voice stern, but softer than before.

"Angela, Angela Brown." She replied.

Another moment of silence followed while the three security guards stared at her. Finally, C.J lowered his gun completely, tucking it away in his holster as the youngest guard sighed of relief. The second guard, however, still held his gun in place and stared at C.J in confusion.

"C.J, what the fuck are you doing?" He asked in surprise.

"Put your gun away, dipshit." C.J snapped as he moved closer towards Angela. "She's staying."

A sigh passed Angela's lips as she looked up at C.J. "Thank you."

A blank expression painted his face as he looked down at her. "Yeah, well, just don't bullshit me, lady. If you make one wrong move, I'll kick you back out there, you hear me?" He asked sternly.

Taken slightly aback by his tone, Angela nodded quietly, not daring to say anything. Happy with the response, C.J motioned for her to follow him.

"Come on." He mumbled, starting to walk off, the second guard following behind him.

Still shocked at how he had spoken to her, Angela quietly followed the three guards as they took her into an elevator, moving up to the upper floor. They had led Angela to a large electronics store, taking her to the back of the store, where multiple televisions hung on the wall. Three couches and a small sofa chair faced the wall along with a coffee table in the middle. As C.J and the second guard flopped on the couches, the youngest guard appeared quietly beside Angela as she gripped her side.

"Um, hey, are you okay?" He questioned nervously.

Angela sighed, her hand still on her waist. "No, not really, um…?" She trailed off, not know the young guard's name.

"Oh, Terry! My name's Terry, and that's Bart-" He pointed to the second guard. "-and that's C.J." He pointed to last guard, which Angela already knew.

"Well, Terry, do you have a med kit or something I can use to patch myself up?" She asked, cringing as she saw blood seeping through her shirt.

Terry stared at her, an unsure look on his face as he turned towards the two men on the couch. "C.J?"

Turning his attention from the news reports to Terry and Angela, he sighed as she shook his head.

"For fucks sake." He mumbled, ripping his keys from his belt. "Terry, go and take her to the first aid room. Keep your eyes on her."

As he threw the keys at Terry, Angela glared at C.J, muttering a cuss under her breath. Following Terry, he led her to the first aid room, not a word said. Angela could sense that Terry was awkward and shy, which was fine with her; at least he was nice.

Coming up to a door with a red cross on it, Terry unlocked it, opening the door for her.

"There's a first aid box in the draw on the left." He mentioned as she stepped in the room. "Oh, and there's some spare clothes in a basket over there, if you want them."

Angela gave him a smile, a thing she hadn't done today. "Thanks."

Terry responded with a small grin, only lasting for a second as he closed the door behind him. "I'll wait out here."

Once the door shut, Angela stood and stared at the room around her. The bland, grey walls and pale, white cupboards intimidated Angela, the room seeming dark. Hand on waist, the toe of one of her sneakers tapped on the floor as she looked at the cupboards, before she began searching for the first aid kit.

Finding the green case, she took out tweezers, antiseptic cream, steri-strip's, and bandages. Cathy never taught Angela how to stitch a wound, but she did show her basic first aid and how to apply butterfly stitches. The thought of Cathy made Angela cringe, but she pushed it all behind her as she focused on the task at hand.

Setting the supplies on a small table in the corner of the room, she carefully took off her shirt, bare torso exposed as her body shivered. Examining the wound, Angela grabbed the tweezers and slowly pulled the small shard of glass out, hissing as pain throbbed at her side. As the glass wasn't embedded too deep, the wound wasn't too worrying, though it did start to bleed again.

Disposing of the piece of glass, Angela then cleaned the blood up and rubbed a dab of cream into her wound, which was more painful than pulling the glass out, as multiple swears spilled passed her lips. She then applied the steri-strips to her wound, creating a butterfly stitch before adding the bandage over it to protect it.

After she had dealt with her wound, Angela raided the basket of spare clothes, since she couldn't put her old shirt back on. Finally, she settled on a slightly oversized t-shirt, but she could deal with that.

Dressed in her new clothes, she left the first aid room and opened the door, greeted by Terry.

"You okay now?" He asked, scratching the back of his head.

Angela nodded her head, her hand pressing on her side. "Yeah, I'm fine, it just hurts a bit when I walk."

"Well, I'll take you back to the room, C.J will be waiting for us, anyway." Terry replied, pushing himself of the wall.

Before he could walk away though, Angela lightly grabbed his arm, halting him so he turned around.

"I just wanted to say thank you, for before." Angela smiled, squeezing his arm softly. "If you hadn't stepped in, I don't think I'd be here now."

A light blush tinted Terry's cheeks, causing him to bow his head. "You're welcome."

Angela wanted to chuckle at the boy's bashfulness, but instead dropped her hand, letting him lead the way. As they re-entered the television area, Angela noticed that C.J had moved to the sofa chair while Bart slumped on one of the couches. Their eyes stared ahead at the multiple televisions, focusing on the reports of the ongoing riots.

Terry threw his keys to C.J, jingling as they landed on his lap. C.J glanced up, his eyes landing on Angela before switching to Terry.

"You lock up everywhere?" C.J asked, clipping the keys back on his belt.

Terry nodded his head, grabbing a bottle of water from the mini fridge in the corner of the room. Standing at the edge of the room, Angela twiddled her thumbs, not knowing what to do with herself. From the other side of the room, C.J watched as she played with the hem of her t-shirt, rolling his eyes.

"Well, sit down, for fuck sake." C.J said, gesturing to the spare couch. "You're making the place untidy."

Angela huffed, setting herself down on one the furthest couch, away from C.J and Bart. Glowering at the two, she didn't realise someone sitting next to her until a bottle of water was held in her face. Turning to see Terry smiling meekly at her, she took the bottle, returning the smile.

"Thanks." She whispered, taking a long swig from it.

Angela didn't realise how thirsty she actually was until she held took the now empty bottle from her lips, realising she had downed the entire bottle.

"So, what did you mean back there?" Terry asked.

"What do you mean?" She replied, screwing the lid back on the bottle.

"You called those things 'infected'." He stated.

"Yeah." Another voice suddenly interjected.

Angela looked over to see Bart and C.J were both listening in on their conversation, Bart sitting on the edge of the couch.

"What's that about?" Bart asked.

"Well, that's just what the radio said." She mumbled, shrugging her shoulders. "It said that if you come into contact with the infected, either shoot or hit them in the head. I suppose that's the only way to..."

Angela trailed off, her voice caught in her throat.

"Kill them?" Terry asked, finishing off her sentence.

"Yeah." Angela whispered, looking down into her lap.

After a moment silence, Bart's face lit up, eyes wide and mouth open in a comical 'O' shape.

"Hey, that sounds kinda' like zombies." He said.

"Oh, for God's sake." C.J sighed, shaking his head.

Angela looked over at Bart in surprise. "No, that's what I was thinking as well."

C.J turned to Angela, eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Well, how else would you explain this situation?" Angela snapped at him.

"Yeah, man, there's no other way to explain this." Bart commented.

"They're not real." C.J stated. "I mean, for Christ's sake, they're Hollywood movie bullshit!"

Angela shook her head. "It does sound crazy, but if you look at the situation, it does add up; these things, the infected, are not human. They may look it, but they're not. I've been up close and personal to them and they are far from human. Some had their faces and arms ripped off, yet they could chase you faster than anything. Even the news said that you have to hit them in the head, like zombies. They're fucking eating people! How the hell do you explain that?"

She paused, sighing as she took a deep breath. "It sounds crazy, but that's the most logically reason for all this at the moment."

"So, if they are zombies, does that mean they're... dead?" Terry asked, his eyes filled with worry.

Before Angela could answer, C.J huffed, crossing his arms. "Of course they're fucking not. A dead person couldn't just run around chomping on people's asses."

With a glare on her face, Angela also crossed her arms as she lent back into the couch. "Well, C.J, why don't you go outside and find out for us?"

"Or how 'bout I just kick you back out. See for yourself."

Angela's frown deepened as she stared at C.J, his smug smile plastered on his face. In silence, Angela turned her glare away from him, her attention focusing on the multiple televisions on the wall.

Shifting in her seat, Angela suddenly felt something hard press against her thigh. Digging her hand in the pocket of her sweat pants, her fingers wrapped around the object, realising it was Cathy's cell phone. Angela gasped, forgetting that she even had the phone, and pulled it out. Hearing her gasp, C.J glanced at Angela, looking down at the phone in her hand.

"Where did you get that from?" He questioned, standing up.

"I had it in my pocket, I completely forgot about it." She replied, beginning to dial the emergency number.

Holding the cell to her ear, it rang for two seconds before cutting off. "Shit, emergency services are completely down."

"Oh, great." Bart sarcastically exclaimed.

C.J shook his head and crossed his arms. "Didn't you think we already tried that?."

Pressing the cancel button, Angela started dialling another number. She held the phone to her ear, praying that it would ring.

Terry came to Angela's side, a curious look on his face. "Who are you calling now?"

"My brother." She replied, receiving a tut from C.J.

"It won't be any-"

"It's ringing!" She suddenly exclaimed, hushing C.J.

As it rang for thirty seconds without any answer, Angela's heart started to sink. Her hand gripped the phone tightly, her foot tapping impatiently as she hoped he would pick it up.

"Hello?" A familiar voice croaked on the other end.

"John!" Angela gasped.

"Angela?" Her brother asked. "Oh, thank God, you're alright! Where are you? And where the hell is your phone? I've tried to call you!"

"I'm in the Crossroads mall and don't worry, I'm fine. I lost my cell a couple of hours ago." Angela explained, sighing as she began to pace up and down. "What about you? Where are you?"

"I'm with Miranda. We're on our way to- shit, watch out!"

Angela listened intently, hearing a screech of tires and her brother cursing loudly.

"Fuck, that was close." John sighed as he came back on the phone. "Anyway, we're on our way to Fort Pastor, trying to avoid these things along the way."

"Fort Pastor?" Angela questioned. "What is that?"

"Haven't you heard on the news? Fort Pastor is a safe haven done by the military. They're asking everyone to go there. They've got food, water, medical supplies, and guns to kill these fuckin' things!" He explained.

As her brother explained all this to Angela, she walked over to C.J, who had listened intently, and grabbed the remote. She began to search through the channels on one of the televisions, finally stopping on one when the words FORT PASTOR flashed on the screen.

Focusing on the one single television, Angela watched eagerly as it showed the US military in wagons and vans, escorting injured people into medical tents. One man was explaining that there was no 'infection' and everything was under control there.

"It looks safe." She finally murmured into phone.

"It does... we just needed somewhere to go." John paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Those monsters, th-they just came out of nowhere, Angela. They just attacked everyone and started eating them alive." His voice sounded strained, as if holding back tears.

This brought tears to Angela's eyes as she thought back to this mornings events.

"I know, John, I-" Her voice caught in her throat, choking back tears.

"Angela?"

"I… Cathy turned into one." Angela whispered, eyes beginning to water.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see Terry look at her with a pained expression.

"Shit. Angela, I'm so sorry." John said; he knew how close the two of them were.

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she forced herself not to cry as she cleared her throat. "How's Miranda?"

"She's fine, just a little shook up. When we were escaping from the house, one of those monsters ran up to us and tried to attack Miranda. I managed to get him off her, but he bit me on the arm. Hurts like a motherfucker." He explained.

"You got bit?" Her voice shaky as she asked her brother.

"Yeah, but the bleedings slowed, so it'll be fine." John idly replied.

Panic bubbled within Angela, her heart hammering against her chest as she ran a hand through her hair. She knew she shouldn't panic, as she didn't even know whether the bites and her theory were even true, but she couldn't stop the tightness expanding in her chest.

"J-Just make sure you get it looked at when you get there, okay?" She said.

He chuckled quietly. "Don't worry, I will."

A beeping noise suddenly rang, interrupting their conversation.

"Shit! My phones dying." He muttered.

"What! No, please, don't hang up!" Angela yelled, gripping the phone tightly.

"I have to Angela-"

"No! You don't have to!" She shouted down the phone, more tears brimming at her eyes.

"Listen, Angela, I don't know when I'll next get to see you, so I might as well say it now. I love you, sis, and please, please for the love of God, stay safe. Stay where you are and just protect yourself. Once we get to the camp-" _Beep!_ "Shit, once we get to the camp, we'll try to send help to you. Whatever it takes, I'll make sure you get help, okay?"

"Okay, I love you too. Please, just get there safe." She choked out.

"Thanks, we w-" Before he could finish his sentence, the line went dead.

"John?" She asked, only to no reply.

With a frustrated cry, Angela threw the phone on the couch. Roughly wiping her wet eyes, Angela ended up burying her face completely in her hands. She forced herself to try not to cry as her breathing became erratic. Her hands shook uncontrollably, but she felt a presence beside her.

"Are you okay?" Terry asked timidly, his voice just above a whisper.

Angela was silent for a few moments, slowly calming herself down, before her hands fell to her sides. She looked up to see Bart and C.J staring awkwardly at her, while Terry did his best to comfort her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She sighed, collapsing on the couch.

A second of silence passed before Terry picked up the phone and sat down on the couch as well. "What did he say?"

Angela watched as he fiddled with the phone in his hands.

"He's going to Fort Pastor, a military base that's free from infection. They're asking everyone to go there as soon as possible, if they can make it without being mauled by them things."

Grabbing the remote off the couch, C.J turned up the volume on the one single television. He listened to it, watching it before shaking his head.

"That place is fuckin' miles away, it would be a suicide mission to try to go there." He muttered.

Angela looked at C.J with a pained expression, but she realised that he was right. With all the chaos out there, populated cities would be worse, probably more chance of death than safety. As well, if everyone from all the nearby towns were trying to make it to Fort Pastor, the highways were most likely blocked.

Closing her eyes, Angela sighed as she curled up on the couch.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the 2004 or 1978 film Dawn of the Dead; I own Angela and any other unfamiliar characters. **WARNING!** Rated T for violence, death, gory scenes, and any other adult content.

Chapter Three

Staring into space, Angela gnawed at her bottom lip, fingernails digging into the material of the couch. She sat curled on the end of the couch, her knees resting under her chin. Terry sat near her, quietly reading a magazine to himself. C.J and Bart had remained in their seats, both sharing comments as they watched the multiple televisions.

It had been an hour since Angela had spoken to her brother and ever since then, it was the only thing she could think about. She hoped he had gotten there safely and got his bite checked on. Different scenarios ran through her head though, some not very pleasant.

It was Bart's voice that suddenly brought her out of her daze.

"Hey, I wonder what happened to Ben?"

Both C.J and Terry looked at Bart, while Angela raised her head curiously.

"How the hell should we know?" C.J asked, although he seemed uninterested.

"Who's Ben?" Angela whispered to Terry.

"He's a security guard, like us." Terry stated. "He was working on our shift with us when this whole thing happened. He decided he would go and try help people. He's been gone for over two hours now."

"The fucker's probably in the middle of town getting his ass chomped on." C.J said, interrupting Angela and Terry.

"But he couldn't have gone out, none of the doors have been unlocked." Terry quickly pointed out.

"Well, he's not in here, is he? Anyway, the stupid fucker wanted to go look for help, it's his own fault for what ever happened to him."

Angela frowned at C.J, horrified that he could even think that way, especially if this was his work colleague he was talking about.

"Maybe he found help." Terry suggested.

C.J snorted. "Well, if he has, the bastard obviously isn't coming to help us."

"I can see why." Angela muttered to herself.

Hearing the comment, C.J snapped his head to Angela and frowned at her. "What did you say?"

Meeting his gaze, Angela smiled sweetly. "Nothing."

Staring at her, C.J shook his head, grumbling under his breath as he turned his focus to the television screens. Dropping her sweet smile, Angela rolled her eyes, but her attention was quickly caught by Bart, who was looking at her with a smug grin. She frowned, quickly looking around her before turning back to Bart.

"Is there something wrong?" She questioned him.

With the stupid grin still on his face, Bart shook his head. "No, but what's your deal?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well," He began. "Are you single?"

Her brow raised at him. "What's it to you?"

He shrugged, leaning forward in his chair. "Just asking, it's called 'getting to know each other'."

Once again, Angela rolled her eyes. The creepiness radiating off Bart made Angela feel nauseous.

"Well, are you?" He pushed.

From the corner of her eye, Angela could see C.J's eyes dart to her. She shared his gaze for a second, before turning back to Bart.

"Well, I've been divorced for two years, so I guess that puts me under the single box."

A chuckle from C.J caused Angela to glance over at him.

"What happened, couldn't satisfy him?" He laughed.

A glare formed on her face as both C.J and Bart laughed loudly at C.J's comment. Only being here for a couple of hours, Angela was already tired of C.J's attitude. She fought her anger, and instead, a grin appeared on her face.

"Actually, no, he couldn't satisfy me. He was lazy, rude, obnoxious - kind of like you." She smirked, looking at C.J.

His face fell as Bart tried to hold in his laughter; even Terry hid a coy smile next to her. Meanwhile, C.J muttered something under his breath as he stood up, stomping his feet as he walked over to get a drink.

Once his laughter had died down, Bart returned his sickly sweet grin. "So, you need a real man to satisfy you?"

Angela felt her stomach drop as she looked at Bart with a horrified expression; she knew where this was going, and she didn't like it. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable under Bart's stare and she slowly shifted down the sofa slightly.

"Don't be getting any fucking ideas." Angela warned, her tone sharp.

"Oh, come on, you know you would." Bart said, giving her wink.

"Bart..." Terry suddenly moaned, beginning to notice how uncomfortable Angela was.

He gave Terry a questioned look. "What? I'm only asking!"

"Yeah? Well don't fucking ask." Angela shot back.

Before Bart could reply, C.J groaned out loud and slapped his hand on the arm rest of his chair as he sat back down.

"Will you all shut the fuck up? You're getting on my last goddamn nerve!"

Angela closed her mouth, crossing her arms as she saw Bart's smirk disappear. Sitting in silence, Angela suddenly realised that her bladder felt full. She crossed her legs, her knee beginning to bounce actively as she felt like she couldn't hold it. Looking around her, she sighed as she quickly stood up, making her way to the exit.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" C.J's voice suddenly boomed from behind her.

Angela stopped and turned around, meeting C.J's hard stare. "I need the bathroom."

C.J stood from his chair, walking slowly over to her. "On your own?"

"Yes, on my own." Angela stated. "I'm more than capable of going the bathroom on my own. I have been to this mall dozens of times, I know where the bathrooms are."

Before she could walk off, she felt something wrap around her upper arm and spin her back around. She let out a small yelp as she was spun, facing the person who held her. C.J stood toe-to-toe with her, his strong hand gripping on her arm like avice. A snarl appeared on his face as he looked down at her.

"You ain't going nowhere." He whispered darkly.

"You can't stop me from going to the bathroom!" She barked, though her voice cracked halfway through.

Ignoring her protest, C.J jerked Angela closer, their faces inches from touching. His ice-cold eyes glared into her soft brown ones, his hand tightening around her arm.

"Listen up darlin', I don't know who you think you are, but you can't go prancin' around this place like you own it. You better be careful, otherwise I'll take your sweet little ass back outside!" He hissed. "You got that?"

Tears threatened to spill from Angela's eyes as she stared up at C.J. Anger seethed through her veins at how C.J dared to treat her, but then, what could she do? She couldn't go back outside, as she probably wouldn't last five minutes. There was nowhere she could go that was as safe as the mall.

Taking a deep breath through gritted teeth, Angela nodded her head, looking down at her feet.

The vice-like grip suddenly released from her arm as C.J gave a small smirk of pride at her. He lightly shoved past her, throwing his keys at Terry.

"Take her to the fucking bathroom."

Terry slowly stood up, an uncomfortable look on his face as his eyes avoided Angela. From behind him, Bart grinned smugly at Angela, giving her another wink before turning back around and putting his feet on the black coffee table, arms crossed behind his head. As Terry made his way towards the exit, Angela followed him, both silent.

The walk towards the bathroom was awkward, both not saying a word. Terry unlocked the heavy door, stepping aside so Angela could enter, where she finally relieved herself.

Washing her hands, Angela looked up into the mirror, giving a small sniffle. Looking into the mirror, her red, puffy eyes stared back at her. Twisting her arm, she looked in the mirror at the angry mark that ringed her upper arm.

She couldn't get over what just happened, the way C.J had treated her. It was outrageous, Angela knew she didn't deserve being treated that way, but what could she do? C.J had the hold over her. He could kick her out at anytime without any hesitation, and she knew she would certainly die if she had to go back out to the streets.

"Fuckin' prick." She muttered angrily as she wiped her eyes.

Stepping back outside, she came face to face with an anxious Terry. Expecting him to walk off, Angela was surprised when Terry rubbed the back of his head, his eyes looking at her.

"Listen," He began, clearing his throat. "I-I'm sorry for what C.J done back there."

Angela sighed as she looked down. "Thanks, Terry."

"Is your arm okay?" He asked worryingly.

Giving the raging red mark a side glance, Angela shook her head. "He's left me with a nasty bruise."

Terry stared at her arm, his mouth opening and closing, not knowing what to say. Angela exhaled deeply, the corners of her mouth flicking up slightly as she looked at him.

"Come on, Terry, we should probably be heading back."

"Yeah." he murmured, leading the way.

Returning to the store, Angela didn't glance at either C.J or Bart's way, sitting herself on the end couch. Before Terry could give the keys back to C.J, he protested.

"Terry, go upstairs; check the security cameras and see if everything's clear." C.J ordered.

"But I done it the last time." Terry frowned.

"Well, I'm telling you to go do it again." C.J replied.

With a sigh, Terry shook his head as he shuffled out the room again.

"Fuckin' trainee." Bart muttered.

Rolling her eyes, Angela nestled her head against the soft cushion of the couch, her eyes suddenly beginning to feel heavy. A soft yawn escaped her mouth and she realised that she was very tired, since she has been awake for a few hours.

Tucking her legs under her chin, Angela let her eyes close, figuring could at least have a small nap, not unless C.J disturbed her. Beginning to drift unconscious, Angela was not ready for when Terry suddenly ran in a few moments later, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"People!" He panted as he stopped in front of C.J and Bart, causing Angela to sit up straight.

C.J shook his head. "Terry, what the fuck are you-"

"There are people in the mall!" Terry finally exclaimed, cutting C.J off.

C.J stiffened. "What! Where?"

"Downstairs, they must have gotten through the employers door round the back."

"There was a back door?" Angela asked, annoyed at how she didn't find it.

C.J glanced at her before looking over at Bart. "Get your guns ready." He said as he pulled his own out.

Bart stood up, hastily pulling his weapon out while Terry looked at C.J, unsure. Meanwhile, C.J stepped over to Angela, holding his hand out to her. She looked at the gesture, staring dumbfounded at his hand.

"You're coming with us. I want to keep my eye on you, so come on before I haul your ass off that couch." C.J said, looking at her.

Frowning, Angela grabbed his hand and he pulled her up, pulling her close to his side.

"Why have you got your guns out, by the way?" Angela questioned as she followed the three guards. "If they're survivors, they won't do any harm."

"Yeah, well, I'm not taking that risk." C.J muttered, pulled Angela along as they marched through the empty mall.

"Where the hell are they?" Bart asked, gun up to his chest.

A subtle 'ding' suddenly echoed through the area, causing the group to stop. C.J snapped his head towards the elevators and smacked his lips together.

"They're on their way up now."

Beginning to march towards the elevators, Angela huffed as C.J dragged her along his side. "Could you let go of my arm, please?"

Stopping in front of the elevator doors, C.J glanced down at Angela, realising he still had a firm grip of her wrist. Quickly letting go of her, he stood her in between himself and Terry, so he could keep a very close eye on her. Lowering his gun for a second, he pointed his finger at her, meeting her eyes.

"You stay put, got that?"

Angela nodded slowly, her anxious eyes flickering to the elevator doors. The floor numbers above the door ticked as the elevator rose to their floor. A tight knot formed in the pit of her stomach as she knew something bad was going to happen. Next to her, Terry looked her, both their worried gazes meeting.

The four of them stood there, for what seemed like hours to Angela, waiting for the heavy, metal doors to open. A shrill 'ding' rang through the silence, causing Angela to jump at the sound. With a small groan, the doors open, revealing five survivors.

As soon as the doors open, everyone's guns went up in the air. Silence followed before C.J spoke.

"Find some place else."

Angela's eyes widened as her head turned towards C.J, not believing what he had just said.

Out of the three men in group of five, a tall man in a white, now bloodied and ruined, shirt stepped forward. "Look, we just need a place-"

A click of a gun interrupted him; C.J now pointed his gun direct to the man.

"Maybe you didn't hear me." He said, voice threatening low.

"There is no place else." The man stated.

"Hm, that's tough shit, 'cause this is our place and you can't stay here." C.J declared.

"Yeah, and you already trashed Metropolis." Bart commented.

Angela frowned at the two of them, but before she could even argue, another man, dark-skinned and dressed in all black, holding a gun, argued back.

"Look, dumbass, my wife is pregnant; we can't run anymore."

Angela looked at the woman next to him, noticing that indeed she was pregnant; heavily pregnant. Her hand wrapped around her servilely swollen stomach, eyes connecting with Angela's. The woman, who seemed exhausted, silently pleaded with Angela while the conversation carried on.

A small, blonde woman, pale skin covered in crimson and holding a shotgun, stepped forward, pointing to the fifth and last member of the surviving group, who was a dark-skinned police officer.

"His arm..." She trailed off.

"Those things are down there!" The original man in the white shirt exclaimed.

C.J simply shrugged. "Well, these are all your problems. Not mine."

"If I put my foot up your ass, would that be your problem?" The officer asked.

"Hey asshole. I'm the one pointin' the gun at you."

Angela's patience had hit boiling point and she couldn't contain herself. "That's enough, C.J."

Turning his threatening gaze towards her, C.J cocked his head. "Who said you could speak?"

"Oh, fuck you." She snapped, causing everyone in both groups to raise their eyebrows. "Who gives you the right to deny these people sanctuary from the mess out there?"

C.J, with his gun still pointed at the survivors, took a step forward to stand in front of Angela.

"Y'know, I could just throw you back out there with this lot if you don't shut up." He warned.

Glaring up at him, Angela too took a step forward, coming dangerously close to C.J. "I'd like to see you try."

The two stood there in silence, mere inches from each other as they both glared at each other. C.J's eyes grew dark as he realised Angela was serious, trying to scare her, but it didn't work. Instead, she stared back, never breaking eye contact.

"Hey, sorry if we're interrupting trouble in paradise, but we need to stay here." The man with the gun said.

Both turning to look at him, Angela snorted at his words. "Whoa, we're not-"

"Do me a favour and shut the fuck up!" C.J angrily snapped, cutting off Angela.

"You better watch your mouth." The officer suddenly threatened.

"Why, what are you going to do?" C.J mocked, aiming his gun high.

"Cut it out!" Angela snapped.

"He is a cop, C.J." Terry nervously pointed out.

"So what?" C.J muttered as the elevator doors began to close, the man with the gun stopping them.

"For Christ sake, C.J, let them in!" Angela hissed.

Before C.J could even glare at her, the blond woman quickly interrupted.

"We're not gonna' cause any trouble. Just let us stay here for a while… please." Her voice pleaded, sounding exhausted.

Silence fell among the two groups. Angela looked up at C.J, her own eyes pleading along with the surviving group. C.J glanced from each person, inspecting them carefully before looking down at Angela.

"Okay. Come out of there slowly and give your weapons to Bart and Terry." He said, nodding his towards the two younger guards.

The group backed away defensively.

"Don't do it."

"You must be out of your fuckin' mind!" The cop said through gritted teeth.

"Well you can take your ass over to Quality Inn if it's still there, Shaq! Huh, you wanna do that?" C.J shouted.

"C.J..." Angela pleaded, her hand softly grabbing his arm.

Surprised at the sudden touch, C.J quickly looked down at Angela's hand, slightly confused. Angela, now suddenly self-conscious and surprised at her actions, stared back at C.J. Giving a frustrated sigh, C.J leant closer to Angela.

"Listen, you got what you want; they're staying, but I'm not letting them in armed. I don't fucking know or trust them. These fuckers could turn on us." He muttered to her.

"You trusted me and let me in." Angela replied.

"You weren't armed." He retorted.

Biting her lip, Angela dropped her hand from C.J, knowing he was right. She knew these people wanted help, but there was the risk of them being a threat, especially since they outnumbered them.

Angela sighed, turning to look at the group apologetically. "Sorry, but it's the only way you can come in."

After a moment of silence, slowly, the blonde woman stepped forward, shotgun raised out. Her eyes glanced at the officer, before coming out of the elevator.

"Hey, don't give him that gun." The guy with the second gun said.

Ignoring him, the woman stepped out of the elevator, passing the shotgun to Terry. As she stepped beside Angela, Angela took the opportunity to mouth the word 'sorry' to her. The corners of the woman's mouth flickered up slightly, giving her a small smile as she nodded her head.

Giving a small smile back, Angela turned around to see Bart snatching the gun off the other man. He glared at Bart before sighing loudly.

"Fuck!"

C.J smirked as the group followed behind him. "Smart move."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the 2004 or 1978 film Dawn of the Dead; I own Angela and any other unfamiliar characters. **WARNING!** Rated T for violence, death, gory scenes, and any other adult content.

Chapter Four

Standing in front of the televisions, the group was silent, watching the carnage unfold before them. Towns had been overrun by the monsters, cities destroyed. In the middle of the streets, people were attacked and eaten alive by the infected. America was in a state of massacre.

"This is bad." Angela whispered, her eyes wide as they stared at the multiple screens.

Next to her, the blonde woman, whose name was Ana, glanced at Angela, sharing the same worried look.

"Alright, let's go, guys." C.J suddenly said, breaking everyone out of their disquieted trance. "Come on, get your own little T.V. C'mon, let's go."

Quickly herding the group away from the televisions, he sent them to sit on the sofas. Angela sat at the end of one sofa, making room for Ana and the officer, Kenneth. Noticing Kenneth clutching his arm, Angela sat forward, seeing the blood dribbling down his arm.

"Anything I can help with?" She asked, as Ana looked at the wound on his arm.

"Yeah, can you grab a cloth or something?" Ana replied.

Looking around the room, Angela spotted a pile of napkins on the coffee table. She grabbed them all, pulling some out the pile and applying them to where Ana told her. Meanwhile, the couple, Andre and Luda, stood in the middle of the room. Luda clutched her swollen stomach, a pained expression on her face.

"Excuse me, please? Is there a restroom?" Her thick, Russian accent asked C.J.

"No, you're staying here." C.J replied, ignoring her moans of distress.

"So, why don't you tell us which spot in here you'd like us to take a piss?" Andre asked, his arm lazily waving to the floor.

Angela raised an eyebrow, waiting for C.J's reaction, though to Angela's surprise, he just shook his head.

"Alright, it's around the corner, that way." He sighed, pointing the direction.

When Luda and Andre started making their way though, C.J frowned.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where do you think you're goin'?" He questioned, stopping them both.

Andre grabbed his wife's hand protectively. "She's not going anywhere alone."

C.J scrunched his face, mimicking Andre. "She's not going anywhere- this is a fuckin' nursery school!"

"Why don't you go with them then, if you want to keep an eye on everyone so badly." Angela said, highly annoyed with C.J's attitude.

From across the room, C.J glared daggers at Angela before turning towards Terry. "Terry, go with 'em."

As the three of them walked out, C.J sat down in his chair as he and Bart turned their attention back to the televisions. Michael, who was the man in the bloodied white shirt, paced the room, looking at all the different news stations.

Even though she was occupied with keeping the bleeding from Kenneth's arm at bay, Angela looked up at the televisions, specifically to one certain news report. A town sheriff stood in front of the camera, a giant bonfire behind him as peoplethrew bodies in it. The sheriff began to explain about killing the infected.

"You gotta' shoot 'em in the head." He stated.

Angela frowned, realising that was what the radio had advised as well.

The news report retained her attention again when the camera suddenly zoomed in on a body laying on the ground. It's leg and head twitched violently, almost convulsing on the ground. The sheriff named it a 'twitcher'.

"Twitcher… now that is one cool motherfucker!" Bart smirked, looking at C.J.

Angela scoffed, looking over at Bart in disgust. Warm liquid started to pool in Angela's hands and she quickly looked down, only to see that the blood from Kenneth's wound had completely soaked through the napkins. Quickly changing to a set of new napkins, the thick liquid only pooled even more again. Panicked eyes shot to Ana, who stared back with frustration.

"The bleeding's not going to stop on its own." She stated, looking up towards C.J. "I need to stitch his arm."

"What are you, a fuckin' doctor?" He asked, seeming disinterested with the situation.

"No, I'm a fucking nurse." She retorted.

An amused snort came from Angela, earning herself a stern look from C.J. He grabbed his keys, tossing them to Bart.

"First Aid kits in the security office."

Ana stood up, looking down at Angela. "Are you okay holding his arm?"

Angela looked at Kenneth, who gave her a small nod and shifted so she could hold his arm tighter.

Giving him a smile, she nodded over at Ana. "Yeah, I should be fine."

Reassured, Ana followed Bart out the shop as C.J smiled up at the T.V.

"Huh? What'd I tell you boy?" He looked for Bart, but then noticed he had gone, so instead, he turned to Kenneth and Angela. "America always sorts this shit out."

Rolling her eyes, Angela tore her gaze off the screen and put more tissues on Kenneth's arm. All of the tissues were soaking up the blood at an alarming rate, which worried Angela. She quickly grabbed more and replaced them, cleaning up his arm.

Andre and Luda appeared through the doors, Terry behind them. The two of the sat on the sofa next to the one Angela was on.

"You can relax now, baby." Andre murmered, helping his wife sit down.

Angela turned around, smiling at the two. "You okay?"

Luda smiled. "Yes. Thank you, er..."

"Angela." She replied.

"Oh, Angela." Luda repeated, her accent prominent.

Returning her attention to Kenneth, she jumped slightly when he finally spoke, his deep voice startling her, as he has been very quiet for the past ten minutes.

"My brother's there, he's waiting for me."

Angela followed his gaze and saw he was staring at the television screen, 'Fort Pastor' as the main headline.

"My brother's there, too." Angela said, putting pressure on his wound.

"When did he get there?" He asked her, looking down at her with curious eyes.

"He phoned me just over an hour ago. He was on his way there, but hopefully he got there safe enough." She answered, looking back over to the T.V.

The door to the shop suddenly swung open, Ana marching in with the medical box under her arm, Bart entering after her. She placed the med kit on the coffee table, grabbing whatever she needed from it. Angela removed the bundle of napkins from Kenneth's arm as Ana sat down, receiving a small 'thank you' from Ana and a nod from Kenneth.

As Angela stood from the couch, Michael, who had stripped off his crimson stained shirt, leaving a plain t-shirt with a few patches of blood on it, walked over to C.J, kneeling down in front of him.

"So, what's the plan?" He asked.

"The plan is you drink a nice tall glass of 'shut-the-fuck-up'." C.J mumbled, his eyes never looking away from the screens.

"Okay, that's one idea." Michael said to himself. "What about locking this place down, 'cause sooner or later, they're gonna get in here."

"That's actually a good idea." Angela chimed in, standing in front of C.J.

To Angela's surprise, C.J nodded, glancing at the two of them. "Hmm, that's good. I hadn't thought of that."

"Bet you didn't." Angela muttered to herself.

"Hey, no doubt. You probably already thought of about putting a sign up on the roof, because, well, you know, there's still planes in the air. Might be good to let them know we're alive." Michael pointed out.

Angela took note of how smart and logical Michael was, thinking it was a good idea that C.J did let them in. For now, she knew she could trust Michael.

"We can get some paint from Case Hardware. Use some office doors to board up weak spots." C.J suggested.

"That's a solid plan... C.J, is it?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, C.J" Michael said, standing up.

With a small huff, C.J stood up from his chair, finally taking his eyes away from the televisions. Clearing his throat, he made sure he had everyone's attention.

"Alright, everybody, listen up. I'm gonna give everybody a job to do and I expect you to do all of it. I don't wanna see anyhalf-assin'." He announced.

Angela's face dropped, shaking her head as she knew there must have been a catch to it. Everyone had the same glum expression as they all looked at C.J.

He looked over at Michael. "You know what, why don't you start by cleaning up that mess you made in Metropolis."

"Wait, hold up." Andre suddenly interrupted. "My wife is heavily pregnant. You can't expect her to lift heavy shit and stuff like that."

Before C.J could begin to argue back, Angela spoke before him.

"She could paint some signs up on the roof." Angela suggested. "She won't have to do much lifting and she could sit down to do it."

"I will paint." Luda meekly said.

Angela quickly turned to C.J. "We need some signs done anyway, so I could go up and help her."

C.J stood still as his gaze shifted from Angela to Luda.

"Fine, she can go and paint, but you're not going with her." C.J said, pointing to Angela.

Instead, he pointed to Ana. "You can go and paint whatever on the roof with preggers over there."

His finger then shifted to Angela. "You are comin' with me."

"Great." Angela muttered to herself as she followed C.J.

While the two women went up on the roof to paint, C.J assigned Michael to clear up the broken glass from a window they had smashed, and Andre and Kenneth to collect supplies and board up doors and windows. Angela, however, had to go with the three guards as they done 'clean up duty'. Michael had told C.J that two more of the monsters remained on the first floor, though both were trapped in various places.

"The first one is in the fountain." Bart said, rushing ahead as they approached it.

"Do I really have to do this with you?" Angela timidly asked, not wanting to come face-to-face with infected again.

"Hey, C.J, look! Terry!" Bart suddenly shouted, stopping C.J from answering Angela's question. "Take a look at BenCozine."

C.J and Terry both rushed to the scene, Angela trailing behind.

"Hey, Ben. Ben!" Bart continued to shout as the three finally made it to the fountain.

The sight before Angela made her recoil in terror. Stuck in the fountain was indeed one of the infected. The monster, once a human man, now screamed and thrashed in the shallow water. Angela noticed that the thing had the same uniform as C.J, Bart, and Terry.

Terry gazed in horror. "Look at him…"

"Is that the Ben you were talking about before?" Angela asked.

Terry swallowed hard before nodding his head. "Yeah, it is."

"Look, he's a twitcher." Bart said. "T.V says you gotta shoot 'em in the head."

"T.V said a lot of things that aren't true." Terry put in, still staring at his infected friend.

"It's seemed to have worked so far." Angela stated.

C.J pushed past the trio towards Ben, his gun raised, clearly fed up of the situation. "Well, fuck the fucker. I told him not to go downstairs."

He stopped, taking aim, and fired.

Ben's white eyes met theirs as the bullet penetrated his skull, blood spurting out. His head jerked back, the impact sending the body into the water. Angela's eyes fixated on the floating, lifeless body, watching as the clear water now ran crimson.

"Let's go." C.J mumbled, holstering his gun.

Before turning around, a flash of silver caught Angela's eye. Stopping, Angela squinted, trying to figure out the object that appeared behind the fountain on the ground. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed the trio of guards were occupied, so she took the opportunity to investigate.

Creeping around the fountain, Angela saw a silver handgun lying on the ground. Her eyes widened for a moment, her breath caught in her throat before reaching for it. Picking it up carefully off the ground, she realised it was Ben's gun, obviously fallen out of his holster when he was in the fountain.

Angela had little experience with guns, but she did know some basics, like checking the ammo. She did so, and to her amazement, it was full. Looking around her, she saw no one in sight. Checking to make sure the safety was on, she slid the gun in the waist band of her jeans, flinching as the cold steel touched her back. Luckily, her shirt was baggy enough to hide the gun well, so no one would notice.

The reason for taking the gun and hiding it was because Angela felt she would need a weapon, as a bad feeling had started rise in her stomach. She felt safe that someone else but the guards had a gun.

"Angela!" C.J suddenly yelled. "Stop fucking around and come here!"

Making sure the gun was safely tucked away, she stood up and made her way to C.J. When Angela found them, they were all stood outside a sports shop, staring at a trail of blood leading inside.

"Where were you?" C.J asked as she walked towards them.

"Um, curiosity got the better of me." Angela lied.

"Yeah, well, ever heard that curiosity killed the cat?" He asked.

Angela smiled meekly, shrugging her shoulders. "Cat's have nine lives"

C.J opened his mouth, as if going to retaliate with a snarky comment, but instead closed it again, shaking his head as he turned back to the bloodied trail. A vicious growl came from inside, which made both Angela and Terry jump. Bart smirked, clucking his tongue as he entered the shop.

"Faggots." He mumbled.

C.J followed Bart inside, Terry and Angela close behind him. They followed the blood trail that led through the middle of the store. Coming towards the back of the store, a dead body could be seen sprawled on the floor, a broken polo club through its head. Another growl came from a closet, where majority of the blood had spilled. C.J took lead in front of Bart, slowly creeping towards the janitor's closet. Both Bart and C.J had their guns raised high when C.J opened the door. The scene inside sickened Angela.

There were two people, or at least what was left of them, in the small room. One was dead, slumped on the floor with his innards spilling out on the floor. The other was no longer a person, but an infected. It crouched over the dead man, mouth and hands drenched in blood, bits of flesh dangling from its bared teeth. Blood was splattered all over the walls and floors.

C.J only let it growl once more before he shot it in the head. Even though it was already dead, he shot it two more times, making sure it wouldn't jump back up.

"Terry, Bart, you two can clear all this shit up." C.J said once he was done, holstering his gun.

Bart frowned at C.J. "What?"

"You mean... clear the bodies?" Terry asked.

"Yes. Pick them up, wrap them up in whatever, move them to the roof, and then throw them off." C.J explained to a horrified Terry and Bart.

"Oh, God." Terry gasped as C.J began to walk off, Angela following.

"Where are we going?" Angela asked as they walked out the store.

"Well, you are going to do some mopping up." C.J said, pointing the mop and bucket that had been left outside the store.

Staring at the bloodied floor, Angela frowned. "Seriously?"

Grabbing the mop, C.J shoved it in Angela's hands, giving her a smug smile. "Get to work."

Much to her dismay, Angela began to mop up the blood trail, trying to avoid slipping in it. The sight of blood didn't bother her too much, but this was a lot of blood, something out of a horror film, and the stale, coppery smell lingered in the air. Despite all this, Angela continued to clean the floor, even shouting at Bart when he walked more blood out as he carried the bodies out the store with Terry.

Once she was done, C.J then ordered her to the rooftop of the mall to help everyone else with painting.

On the roof, the sun bared its heat down on everyone. Angela sighed, wiping the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand. She dropped her paint brush and stood up from her crouched place, admiring her finished work. On a piece of white, giant cloth, Angela had painted the words 'HELP ALIVE INSIDE' in big, bold letters.

"Need help hanging that up?" Michael asked, standing next to her.

"Yeah, sure." She replied, moving the paint brushes and cans.

Grabbing one end each, the two dragged the banner to the rooftop edge. Curiously, Angela peeked over, horrified as she saw hoards of the monsters surrounding the entire mall.

Craning her neck away from the edge, Angela swallowed the lump in her throat as she focused on hanging the banner. The two threw the banner over the edge, letting it hang. With a hammer each, they both nailed the banner on to wooden planks attached to the rooftop edge, securing it so it didn't blow away.

"Looks good." Michael commented as he stood up.

Angela stood too, dropping the hammer as she crossed her arms. "Hopefully somebody will see it."

A loud thud followed by a curse caught Angela and Michael's attention. They looked over to see Bart and Terry carrying the last body to the edge.

"Watch what you're doin', man!" Bart yelled at Terry as they stumbled with the body.

Shaking her head, Angela sighed as she watched the duo carry the dead body up to the edge, where they had thrown the three previous bodies.

"Okay, on two." Bart said. "One, two…"

With one last swing, both let go of the body, letting it fall off the building edge. The body landed with a thud down below.

"What are they?" Michael suddenly asked, looking down at the growing crowd in the parking lot.

By now, everyone had gathered together near the edge of the building. All of the group looked down at the crowded parking lot, looking on as more of the monsters were emerging from the trees. Angela tensed up as she realised there were at least over a hundred of those things down there; much more than they could handle if ever something happened. Some clawed at the walls, white eyes staring up hungrily at Angela. She took a step back.

"I don't know. Why are they coming here?" Ana asked as well.

Kenneth took a step forward, taking a peek over the edge. "Memory, maybe. Instinct. Maybe they're coming for us."

"Instinct, huh?" Bart repeated. "If that was you down there, Terry, you would be jerking off."

Angela looked over at Bart in disgust, sharing the same look with Michael as Kenneth shook his head. Instead of getting angry, or even embarrassed, Terry nodded his head, looking down at the ground.

"Probably."

In the distance, two loud gun shots suddenly rang, causing the group, inducing Angela, to flinch. Everyone began looking for the source, wondering if it was help coming to rescue them. Scanning the area around them, Angela saw a figure on a rooftop in the distance. Raising one hand to block the sun, she could now make the figure out - a man waving his arms.

"Hey, over there!" She shouted, pointing to where the man stood.

"There's someone on that roof." Ana said, squinting to see.

Raising his binoculars, C.J searched for the figure, trying to get a better look.

Angela stood next to him, eyes still on the figure. "Can you see him?"

"Yeah, his name's Andy." C.J replied, looking down to her and back through his binoculars. "Says he's alone."

"He may as well be on the moon." Andre mumbled.

"Poor guy." Ana sighed, but stopped as she noticed him pointing behind them. "What's he pointing at?"

Following his direction, Angela turned around and saw what he was pointing at. A grin appeared on her face as she gripped ahold of C.J's arm, forcing him to turn around as well.

"Look!" She shouted excitedly.

In the distance, a helicopter flew towards the mall. Angela began jumping up and down as it flew nearer, waving her arms in hope the pilot could see her. Following her lead, the entire group tried to attract the attention of the chopper, jumping and shouting wildly. Even C.J waved his arms in hope of being seen.

The helicopter flew over the mall, but Angela's heart sank as it began to fly away from the mall. Everyone noticed this as well, standing still in confusion.

"Where's it goin'?"

"Wait, don't go!"

"Please!"

"No, why is it leaving!" Angela shouted, kicking the ground in annoyance as it finally flew out of sight.

While Angela seethed with anger, Luda started panicking behind her, Andre having to comfort her. Michael and Kenneth shook their heads in disappointment, while Bart strung a few curse words under his breath. C.J let his binoculars hang around his neck, huffing in anger.

Angela felt a small hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Anna.

"Don't worry, its safe here. We'll just wait for them to come back." Anna said.

That's if it comes back, Angela thought.

The rest of the afternoon was spent securing the rest of the mall. All the doors had been locked and chained, then boarded up and blocked off with heavy furniture. First floor windows were also locked shut and boarded up.

After everyone finished, they were rewarded with a meal, since nobody in the group had eaten that day. Angela was surprised when C.J offered food, but of course, everything was rationed under C.J's watchful eyes, and everyone had to stay in the television room.

Evening was falling, the sun just starting to set. Everyone sat in the television room, either watching the news or talking among themselves quietly. Somehow, Angela ended up sitting next to C.J on one of the sofas while he flicked through the news stations.

While watching the news, Angela's eyes began to feel heavy, threatening to close. Her head began to fall back against the couch as her body felt tired, jerking forward as she fought the urge to sleep. A frown appeared on C.J's face as he looked at Angela, wondering what she was doing before turning his attention back to the television.

Again, Angela's eyes closed, only to snap open. Silently sighing, she adjusted her position on the couch slightly, being careful of the gun resting in her jeans. That was a big reason Angela didn't want to fall asleep - if, somehow, somebody or even C.J saw the gun. No doubt she would probably get kicked out if C.J knew she had a gun.

It wasn't until a minute later that C.J suddenly stood up, clapping his hands as he did so.

"Alright, time to get moving." He grumbled.

"Excuse me?" Angela yawned as she slowly stood up.

"All of you are coming with me." C.J stated.

"Why?" Michael questioned.

Swinging his keys on his fingers, he faced Michael. "I'm showing you were you're sleeping."

"Why can't we just sleep here?" Ana asked.

"'Cause this is our place." Bart smirked, standing from his chair.

Michael stood, holding his hands up. "Hold on a-"

C.J pulled his gun out and pointed it at Michael, silencing him. "Just shut the fuck up and follow me."

The group silently grumbled as C.J led them to the first floor of the mall, Bart and Terry following. Angela glanced behind her to see Terry trailing next to her. His eyes met hers, giving her an apologetic look, before turning away. C.J suddenly stopped in front of a furniture and bathroom store, bending down to unlock the heavy gate.

Pulling it up, C.J turned back and pointed in the store. "In."

"You're locking us in?" Ana asked in disbelief.

"Yes, now get in." C.J snapped impatiently.

Silently, Kenneth was the first to enter the store, scowling at C.J. Everyone else followed suit, though Angela trailed behind lazily after them, not even bothering to glance at C.J.

With a proud smirk on his face, he held the gate as he looked at the group.

"I don't want anybody sneekin' around and stealin' shit." He slammed the gate closed. "Comprende?"

Leaning against the cold bars of the gate, Angela crossed her arms as she stared idly at him. "You're a real dick, you know that?"

Smirk still plastered on his face, C.J strode over to Angela. Fingers lacing through the gaps of the gate, he grabbed the collar of her shirt, gently pulling her towards him, against the gate. He leaned in closer, his face inches from hers.

"Get used to it." He whispered darkly.

Angela made no sign of flinching or discomfort, which she felt. Instead, she stared C.J dead in the eye, keeping a still expression, showing no weakness.

"Asshole." She hissed.

"Sweet dreams." He muttered, finally letting go of her, walking off with Bart and Terry.

Angela stared at the back of the three figures while the others claimed their spots to sleep in, watching them until they disappeared. Pushing herself off the gate, Angela walked into the heart of the store where everyone congregated. Mostly everyone had picked their chosen bunks, Luda and Andre occupying the king sized bed, naturally, because of Luda's condition. Kenneth sat in a leather arm-chair, checking his radio, while Ana curled up on a small couch next to the bed. Michael paced up and down the room, not choosing a place. For the mean time, Angela decided she would take the single bed that rested against the back wall, opposite Kenneth's chair.

Michael sighed as he paced, shaking his head.

"Those assholes are gonna' get us killed." Michael muttered, laughing in disbelief. "We have to do something."

"I'm not doing anything to create problems for Luda and me." Andre said, soothing his wife's stomach. "The helicopter's coming back soon."

"I hope so." Michael sighed.

Luda's head snapped up, her eyes filled with worry, causing Andre's brow to furrow at Michael. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Means it might come, it might not. We don't know."

The thought suddenly dawned on Angela, her heart sinking as she realised the chopper, or even help, might not even come.

"What do you mean it not come back?" Luda panicked as she raised herself off the bed, looking at her husband. "You said it was coming back! We have to get to hospital!"

Andre was quick to comfort Luda, easing her back on the bed. "Hey! 'Ay, baby, listen, listen. Don't worry, okay? This guy, he doesn't know shit, alright? It's coming back."

After comforting Luda, Andre's head snapped to Michael as he stood from the bed. Angela tensed up, sensing a confrontation was about to happen.

"Hey, my man, you know I hear you talkin' a lot, you know you always sayin' something… who the fuck are you that we should listen, huh?" Andre's voice raised on the last question as he stood face to face with Michael. "What are you, like, in the special ops, you in the marines? What the fuck do you do?"

Taken back with the question, Michael stood there in silence before answering. "I sell televisions at Best Buy."

Andre began to chuckle to himself, turning towards Kenneth, his laughing becoming bolder. "Ay, officer, how do you like followin' a guy that sells T.V's?"

"Not as much as I like followin' a guy who steals them." Kenneth replied, resulting in Andre rolling his eyes. "I'm not following anyone. I'm going to Fort Pastor to get my brother."

Andre shook his head and walked back over to Luda. "Un-fucking-believable." He grunted, kicking a table.

Becoming frustrated with how Andre was acting, Angela sat up from the bed. glaring at him.

"Look, can you just calm down?" She asked.

There was no need for the way Andre was acting; Michael was only being realistic. Anyway, in Angela's view, Michael was right about C.J. They needed to do something before things got worse, especially if the helicopter wasn't returning.

"Why should I?" Andre snapped.

"Because we're all in the same situation." Angela retorted. "Every single one of us are scared. We all may not show it, but we're all scared. None of us know what the hell is going on, but fighting among ourselves is not going to help."

Again, Andre began to laugh, swatting his hand as if showing Angela she was of no importance.

"Why the fuck should I listen to you? Who the fuck are you?"

Angela's anger exploded, her frustration point snapping. She pushed herself off the bed and squared up to Andre, glaring him in the eye.

"Who the fuck am I?" She spat, repeating his words. "I'm just a normal high school teacher, who should have been at work this morning. Instead, I watched as my best friend turned into one of those things and nearly rip my fucking throat out with her bare teeth! I watched as those monsters destroyed my neighbourhood and ate my neighbours!"

Angela's anger had spilled over now, all of her emotions from today bubbling together as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"The shit I've seen today will stay with me with the rest of my life. My life as I knew it has gone now, forever!" Angela sniffled, rubbing her eyes. "So, don't you ask me 'who the fuck am I', because you are no fucking different from me. We're all in the same boat here, buddy, so stop acting like a fucking child and realise that we all need to help each other."

The whole room fell into an awkward silence. Everyone's eyes looked at Angela as tears streamed down her face, her anger slowly fading. Andre, who had no words to say, lowered his head in shame as he laid back on the bed, rubbing Luda's stomach.

Wiping her eyes with her palm, Angela turned to Michael. "Maybe we should talk about that plan tomorrow."

Michael nodded in agreement. "Yeah, maybe everyone should get a good nights rest; I think we all need one."

Walking back to her bed, Angela curled up on it, not caring to get under the sheets. She could hear everyone retiring to their places, yawns and sighs filling the room.

For the next hour, everyone remained silent, each going over their thoughts in their heads, reliving the events that happened that day. Luda was the first person to fall asleep, Andre stroking her hair as her arms laid over her stomach. Kenneth had finally given up on checking his radio, discarding it on a coffee table as he sat back on his chair. Both Michael and Ana were still awake, Ana lying on the couch while Michael sat in a chair opposite.

Angela laid on her bed, eyes staring at the ceiling. She had tried to fall asleep many times, but failed. Everything felt alien to her; the bed, the room, the atmosphere. Nothing comforted her. All she wanted was to be in her own bed back at her house, but she knew that could never happen.

Angela suddenly felt a presence next to her and she quickly sat up. Standing at the foot of the bed was Andre, hand awkwardly rubbing the back of his head as he stared at Angela.

"Can I help you?" Angela asked quietly, wondering why he was there.

"Yeah, I was just wonderin' if you were using that spare pillow." He pointed the pillow Angela had thrown to the end of the bed. "Luda needs some back support."

Angela shook her head. "No, you can take it. She needs it more than I do."

He picked it up, giving Angela a small nod. "Thanks."

Before he could walk away, though, he stopped and slowly turned back to Angela. He looked at the foot of the bed, silently asking to sit there. Angela moved her feet and he sat down, pillow in hand.

"Look, about before, I didn't mean to be like that. It's just, I wanna' protect Luda and my baby." He said under his breath, not letting anyone else hear.

Angela smiled lightly, shaking her head as she chuckled. "Hey, no hard feelings."

Andre smiled back. "Good, I don't really want any enemy's in here. It's just, I need to give her some hope, y'know. She might stress the baby out if she keeps worrying."

"I know." Angela sighed. "But she's safe here and there's so much supplies here as well."

"Well, I hate to say it, but I agree with Michael over there; we're not safe with that asshole in charge."

A sudden pang hit Angela's chest, which confused her. She felt bad for C.J? She knew she disliked him, but he had put a roof over everyone's head, even if it did take some convincing.

"Maybe he'll come around." Angela whispered, though her voice wasn't very convincing.

Andre snorted. "Yeah, when pigs fly."

Silence fell as Andre sighed, lifting himself off the bed.

"Look, thanks again. I'll see you in the morning." He whispered, returning to the king sized bed and slipping the pillow under Luda's back.

Angela stretched and yawned, letting her back hit the bed again. As she nestled into the bed, the lights suddenly went off, leaving everyone is complete darkness. A gasp caught in Angela's throat, startled from the sudden change. It frightened Angela that she couldn't see anything or anyone, leaving her feeling vulnerable. Luckily, after a few moments, her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could just make out everyone's body outline.

With the loss of the generators, complete silence drifted through the mall. As time passed, Angela could hear the harsh wind from outside, carrying the moans and screams from the monsters. She could also hear the hundreds of fists pounding against the walls of the mall.

Fear engulfed Angela as she quickly fumbled under the bed covers, pulling them over her face and ears, squeezing her eyes shut. Burrowing deep into the bed, she hoped for morning to come quick.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the 2004 or 1978 film Dawn of the Dead; I own Angela and any other unfamiliar characters. **WARNING!** Rated T for violence, death, gory scenes, and any other adult content.

Chapter Five

It was dawn when the lights automatically came back on, breaking the darkness in the mall as classical music began to play through the speakers. Angela awoke from her deeply sleep, her head appearing from beneath the covers as her eyes squinted at the sudden harsh lights. Around her, everyone else in the group began to disturb, groans and yawns filling the room. Once her eyes had stopped burning and adjusted to the light, Angela swung her legs off the bed, stretching her body. Michael was the first on his feet, rubbing his eyes, while Ana sat up on the couch.

"Morning." Angela croaked, receiving mumbles in reply.

"Andre, I need to use bathroom." Luda whispered, crossing her legs.

"All the bathrooms in here are just for show." Ana said, pointing to the set of bathrooms on the other side of the store.

"Shit." Andre hissed.

Luda clutched her stomach and sighed painfully. "I can't hold it longer."

Andre sat up and rubbed his wife's shoulders. "Don't worry, baby, I'll get you to a bathroom."

In the distance, Angela heard a door slam, footsteps following after it. Walking over to the gate, Angela craned her neck to get a better view of the outside. She could see a figure walking through the mall towards them.

"Hey, someone's coming." She said.

"Thank God." Michael mumbled.

Angela silently agreed, as she couldn't wait to get out of the store. Everyone needed the bathroom and wanted to freshen up, desperately. Ana was still wearing her blood stained clothes from yesterday, which had dried up and left a coppery smell.

"Let's try and get their attention, see if they will let us out." Ana suggested as she stood next to Angela.

When the figure was close enough to them, Angela began to lightly smack the gate, creating noise.

"Hello?" She shouted.

As the figure came closer, Angela realised it was Terry, seemingly annoyed as he carried his gun by his side.

"Hey, hey!" Ana called, causing Terry to stop. "Hey!"

"What?" He asked, putting his gun away.

"The bathroom in here is fake, it doesn't work." Ana explained.

Terry sighed under his breath. "I'll tell C.J."

"I'm telling you." Ana said.

"C'mon, Terry, Luda needs the bathroom and we all want to freshen up." Angela pleaded. "Please, we won't do anything."

With an unsure look, Terry quickly glanced behind him, as if expecting for some one was watching, before grabbing his keys. As he began to unlock the door, Angela heard Ana sigh of relief as the rest of the group began to crowd around them. Terry opened the door, letting Ana out first, Angela following as she smiled at Terry.

"Thanks, Terry." She said.

Terry gave no response, only a small nod of his head as he began to walk towards Hallowed Grounds. Angela's smile disappeared as she watched him walk away, letting a sigh passed her lips.

Free from the store, the group split and decided do their own business, Michael agreeing that everyone met back at the store in twenty minutes. Angela and Ana had decided to get fresh clothes, walking into the nearest women's store.

Angela picked the first things she saw that looked comfortable to wear; an oversized grey tank top and dark jeans, deciding on keeping her sneakers. Going into one of the private changing rooms, Angela quickly stripped of her clothes and changed into her fresh ones, making sure the gun was safely tucked away. The baggy top hid it well, which Angela hoped it would do.

Walking out of the changing room, Angela discarded of her old clothes and met with Ana, who was now clean of blood and had fresh clothes on.

"Feel better?" Angela asked.

"Yeah, glad I'm out of those clothes." Ana replied, straightening out her shirt.

Through the silent mall, a sudden noise - like a door slamming open - echoed loudly. Angela froze as the two women stopped talking, eyebrows raised as they stared at each other.

"What the hell was that?" Angela wondered aloud, walking to the door.

The two women exited the store, looking around for the source of the noise. From a men's store opposite them, Michael appeared, freshly clothed as he walked towards them.

"Did you hear that?" He asked.

Before Angela or Ana could reply, heavy footsteps could be heard running through the mall. Terry suddenly appeared on the second floor, eyes wide as he sprinted past the stores. Angela looked up, her eyes following him as he ran.

"That doesn't seem good." Michael said.

Watching Terry disappear, Angela frowned. "Wonder what's going on?"

A sharp screech of tires answered Angela's question, a gunshot following it. The trio looked towards one of the boarded up windows, where the shot had come from outside. It was only when a horn blared that they all ran to the window, peaking through the cracks of the wood.

At first, Angela could only see crowds of infected, their bloody hands clawing at the walls of the mall. Then, a huge BP truck suddenly came into view, tires squealing as it swerved around roaming infected.

Angela's eyes widened as her mouth dropped open. "Holy shit!"

"Are they survivors?" Ana questioned, eyes as big as Angela's.

"Well, who ever they are, they obviously need help." Michael said as a another gunshot rang out.

"We should get the others and find the guards." Angela suggested, pushing herself away from the window.

"I'll go get Kenneth and Andre, you find Luda." Michael said.

The trio split, Angela and Ana running towards the nursery, as that was where Luda said she would be. When they made it to the nursery, Luda, who was looking at baby clothes, looked up with wide eyes.

"What's going on?" She asked, noticing the two women were panicked.

Angela softly grabbed Luda's arm, gently pulling her along out the store.

"We need to find the others, there are survivors outside that need help." Angela said.

"More people?" Luda questioned, panic laced in her voice.

Exiting the store, Angela saw Michael running towards them, Kenneth and Andre close behind him.

"Baby," Andre said, taking Luda into his arms. "You okay?"

"Yes." Luda replied, though there was still panic in her voice.

"Come on, we need to get on the top floor." Michael said, leading everyone to the elevators.

Once everyone had piled into the elevator, Michael hit the top floor button, the group remaining silent for the short ride up. When the metal doors opened on the floor, Angela was the first one out, looking around for the guards. She noticed a door labelled 'Staff Only' was wide open, leading to a staircase, and upon closer inspection, the word 'Rooftop was also labelled on the door.

"They've gone to the roof." Angela stated, leading everyone up the stairs.

Once they came to a door at the top of the stairs, Kenneth kicked it open, letting light and cold air enter the stairwell. They all rushed through the open door, greeted with the three guards.

Bart turned around and quickly pulled his gun out, frowning in confusion. "C.J!"

As C.J turned around, his face twisted into anger as he saw the group. "How did you get out and who gave you permission to loot the goddamn stores?"

"What are we gonna' do about that truck?" Ana asked, completely ignoring his questions.

"We're not gonna' do anything about that truck." He stated, leaving everyone shocked.

"You can't do that!" Angela said.

"There's people in there." Ana argued.

"Yeah? And how do you know they're not all fucked up like everybody else out there?" C.J asked, pointing to the deadly crowd below.

"Well, for one thing, they're driving a truck." Ana said as gunshot went off. "Oh, and shooting guns."

On the ground below them, the truck drove in circles, avoiding the infected that chased it. When one tried to jump on the cab of the truck, a gun popped out through the window and shot the infected. No matter how hard the driver tried, though, more and more of the infected surrounded the truck. Angela knew that if they kept arguing like this, those people were going to die.

"We need to do something quick, they're going to die down there!" Angela pleaded with C.J.

C.J took a step closer towards her, his tall stance threatening her. "If we start letting people in here, we're gonna' let the wrong ones in and then I'm dead. And you know what? I don't want to die."

"No one wants to die, C.J." Angela stated angrily.

C.J's eyes glared at Angela, only looking away when Ana spoke up.

"Who are the wrong ones?" She asked.

"Nobody here is sick and I intend on keepin' it that way." C.J explained.

Ana, shook her head. "Look, I think we should just-"

"You know what, I DID NOT ASK FOR YOUR OPINION LADY!" C.J suddenly roared, pulling out his gun to Ana. "Now if you wanna' argue with me, you can argue with this!"

Angela's heart skipped as he pointed his gun out at Ana, her breath stifled in her throat.

Michael quickly stepped forward. "Hey, hey, take it easy."

The gun swiveled to Michael's head.

"Shut your fucking mouth!" C.J snapped, his aim turning back to Ana.

"C.J, calm down." Angela said, trying to make her voice sound stern.

Gritting his teeth, his eyes darted to Angela. "Just shut up, Angela."

A frown appeared on her face as she threw her hands down in frustration. "C.J, just stop!"

"Angela!" C.J hissed, his voice more firm.

"Get the gun out of my face." Ana suddenly warned, breaking C.J and Angela up.

"C.J, you can't just turn them away, you'll kill them!" Terry nervously said as he stood in a panicked state.

C.J kept his eyes and gun on Ana, not bothering to look at the young guard. "Tough shit. Self-defence."

"I'm not killing anybody!" Terry exclaimed.

"You know what?" C.J then turned his gun on Terry. "I'll kill you."

Terry raised his hands in the air, slowly taking a step back, away from C.J. "No, no, no! Stop it, C.J, don't do this-"

"SHUT UP!" C.J shouted, swivelling his gun to everyone. "I'll kill each and every one of you to stay alive, you hear me?"

As his gun landed on Angela, her eyes widened as she stared at the barrel of the gun. C.J's expression faltered for a second, returning to normal as he quickly returned the gun's gaze back to Ana.

"I said get the fucking gun out of my face!" Ana yelled, the anger radiating off her.

"Ooh, you got quite a mouth on you." C.J muttered, keeping his gun on Ana.

"Somebody should show her how to use it." Bart smirked, his gun up still.

In that moment, Angela felt scared. She was angry, seething, but mainly scared. Guns were waved around in her face, and she hoped C.J would never pull the trigger, but she was unsure now. She knew it needed to end now, and she was the only one who could do it.

Before anyone realised what she was doing, Angela reached into the waistband of her jeans and quickly pulled the gun from behind her. There was an audible gasp from the group as she pointed the gun at C.J's head. A moment of silence passed before C.J slowly turned his head towards Angela, eyes dark as he glared at her.

"Where the _fuck_ did you get that from?" He snarled.

Angela's hands began to shake as she stood under C.J's glare, but she kept her straight face. "C.J, put your gun down."

"Where did you get-"

"C.J!" Angela shouted, interrupting him from repeating his question. "Just put your gun down."

"You don't have the balls to shoot me." He sneered.

"But do you have the balls to shoot me?" Angela questioned, sucking in a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Because if you do, then you might as well do it now, because I'm not putting this gun down."

With his gun firm in his hands, C.J stared at Angela, his jaw set hard. He held his blank expression as he stayed silent.

Angela still held her gun at him, her eyes only flickering when Michael suddenly leapt forward and punched Bart square in the nose. As Bart dropped his gun and held his nose, Kenneth took the opportunity to snatch C.J's gun out of his hand while he was distracted. Kenneth grabbed C.J by the collar while Michael quickly grabbed Bart. Angela's gun still for C.J's head and Terry also pulled his gun out, pointing it at both C.J and Bart.

"Is there a holding cell in there?" Kenneth asked, keeping C.J restrained.

"Yeah, back in the security room." Terry told Kenneth, pointing towards the stairwell.

"You can come, help us collect our guns." Kenneth said to Angela, to which she nodded in reply.

"That's real good, man. You're gonna get us all killed, dumbass. Fucking traitor!" C.J yelled at Terry as Ana took his security belt.

Ignoring his shouts, Terry walked over to Bart and grabbed ahold of him, Michael letting go. Terry pointed his gun to Bart's head as he began leading the way. Kenneth followed, C.J in tow. Before Angela could follow them, Michael quickly stopped her, pulling her aside.

"That was a brave thing you did." He said.

Angela shrugged her shoulders, though her body still visibly shook. "I had to do the right thing."

"Well, thank you." He replied, giving her a smile.

Angela returned the smile, quickly running down the stairwell to catch up with Terry and Kenneth. While running down the stairs, she faintly heard Andre talking to Michael.

"I hope you got a good plan."

Angela hoped that, too.

After a flight of stairs of shouting and swearing, an awkward elevator ride and more swearing, they had finally reached the security room. Terry unlocked the small cell, Kenneth throwing C.J and Bart in.

"Ow!" Bart whined as his back hit the wall.

"Fucking watch it!" C.J snapped, but before he could do anything, Terry locked the cell door.

"Terry, what are you doin' man? You're gonna' get us killed!" Bart said as he leant against the bars of the cell.

"I'm doing the right thing." Terry replied.

"Terry, where are the guns?" Angela asked, slipping her gun back into the waistband of her jeans.

Terry pointed to a small, metal cabinet mounted up on the wall, tossing her the set of keys.

"In there, it's the little golden key." He said.

Angela found the small key among the others, shoving it in the lock and opening it. On the first shelf was Andre's gun and just above on the second shelf was Kenneth's shotgun, along with his strap of extra shells. She picked the shotgun up, passing it to Kenneth, along with the extra shells. Kenneth admired his shotgun as it laid in his hands, glad he was reunited with it before pumping it.

As Angela picked up Andre's gun, Terry, who was staring at the security monitors, cursed loudly.

"We need to get them in, quick." He said.

Kenneth looked at Angela, nodding his head to her. "Go and help them, we've got this." He ordered, his eyes glaring over at the two men in the cell.

Before leaving the security room, Angela glanced at the men in the cell. Bart was still staring at Terry, trying to plead with him, but Angela stifled a gasp as she met with C.J's stare. His hard eyes stared at her, following her every movement. A small shiver ran up Angela's spine as she exited the room, cold eyes still on her.

Finally meeting the rest of the group on the second floor, Angela could see them all discussing among themselves. As Angela came closer to the group, Andre could see his gun in her hands, a grin forming on his face as she passed him the gun.

"Now, that's what I'm talking about." He said, wiping it with his shirt.

"So, what's the plan?" Angela asked.

"There's a back door around the back of this place and from the looks of it, it's clear from those things out there." Michael explained. "We need to get their attention from the roof and lead them to that door so we can get them in safely."

Ana appeared by Michael's side, handing him a large whiteboard and pen, which he took, quickly writing on it.

"Andre and I will go down to the door and keep those things away from them. You, Ana, and Luda can go on the roof to attract their attention." Michael said to Angela as he passed the board to Luda.

"Okay." Angela said as the three women started to make their way to the stairs.

"Oh, and Angela!" Michael called. "We'll need you to watch out from above, so have your gun ready."

Angela suddenly stopped, eyes wide. "Me? I can't shoot this thing!" She exclaimed.

Angela had never fired a gun in her life, she had no clue how to aim properly. She would probably end up shooting Michael or Andre.

Andre quickly jogged over, taking the gun off her and flicking a switch.

"Now you can." He said, passing it back to her.

It was then that Angela realised she had never taken the safety off the gun. That meant that when she had pointed the gun at C.J, the safety would have been on, rendering it useless. She quickly wondered if C.J had known the safety was on.

Looking at the gun, Angela sighed. "Shit, okay, okay. I'll be on the watch out."

As Michael and Andre took the elevator down, the three women quickly ran up the stairs.

"Angela, you start clearing off those things by the door. Luda, you wait with Angela with the sign while I'll get the truck to come over there." Ana said when they reached the roof.

While Ana attracted the truck's attention, Luda sat by the ladder with the sign while Angela sat on the side, getting a perfect view of the door and loading gate. For now, it was clear of the infected, but Angela remained on edge, poised on one knee while she held her gun up.

Ana suddenly came running up, stopping as she kneeled next to Luda, pointing to the sign. From around the corner, the truck suddenly came into view, a crowd of the infected following it. It suddenly stopped, doing a 180 turn before backing up, hitting an unlucky infected that stood in its way.

It backed up all the way, knocking the railings down as it hit the shutters with a thundering crash. The building underneath Angela shook slightly, causing to put her hands out to steady herself. Angela watched intently as a man suddenly appeared out the window, swiftly climbing out on the top of the cab. He then helped an older woman out and on to the hood.

"You okay?" Angela shouted down.

The elder woman looked up and nodded her head. "Yeah, we're fine, but there's more people inside!"

Angela's eyebrows raised. More people? She quickly wondered how many they were expecting, but a sudden slam of a door opening caught her attention. Angela quickly peeked over the edge to see Michael and Andre running out to check the truck. An infected jumped in front of them, but Michael quickly shot it dead.

"Shit!" Angela hissed as she cocked her gun.

"I don't see anybody!" Andre yelled, looking into the cab.

"Get back inside, they're fine!" Ana yelled down to them.

The man and elder woman looked down at the two of them.

"Get back inside!" She yelled. "There's six more people inside the truck!"

Luda suddenly screamed in terror. "Andre, look!"

An infected ran behind Andre, getting ready to bite him. Andre grabbed it and shot it in the head, brain matter spewing everywhere. Angela panicked, grabbing her gun and aiming as more infected ran towards them. She was about to pull the trigger, but her hands shook uncontrollably.

"Shoot, Angela!" Ana shouted.

"I can't!" She wailed, trying to get her hands steady.

From below, Angela could hear more gunshots, Andre shouting he was out of ammo. Shaking her head, Angela placed her finger on the trigger and aimed for one particular infected that targeted Andre. Her hands stilled and she quickly pulled the trigger, the force jerking her hands back. The noise of the gun caused Angela's ears to ring painfully, but she ignored it as she watched the bullet penetrated the target's knee.

"Fuck!" She hissed, as she didn't kill her target.

The infected cried out though, and fell to the floor as its knee buckled under it. Angela quickly took the opportunity to shoot it again, this time hitting it in the head. She then shot a couple more of the infected, only hitting them in the neck and chest, but stopping them from attacking Andre and Michael.

To men had finally made it back to the door, but one of the infected had jammed its arm into the doorway. Angela aimed with her gun, targeting the head, and shot, the gun jerking her back once again. The bullet zipped through the air and into the head of the monster, dropping dead as Andre and Michael managed to shut the door.

"Oh, thank God." Angela sighed as she collapsed on the floor, head in her hands.

Ana ran to her aid, along with Luda and the two survivors.

"Are you okay?" She asked, kneeling beside Angela.

"I think so." She wheezed, lifting her head from her hands. "Besides my ears ringing and my heart beating against my ribs."

"Did they get in alright?" The elder woman asked as Angela lifted herself off the ground.

"Yeah, they got in." Angela said. "We better get downstairs, we need to get the rest of your friends in."

Ana nodded, taking ahold of the man as he limped badly. "Angela, I think Luda and I can take these two back to Terry and Kenneth, you go and help Michael and Andre with the rest." She suggested.

"On it." Angela agreed, beginning to run down the stairwell.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the 2004 or 1978 film Dawn of the Dead; I own Angela and any other unfamiliar characters. **WARNING!** Rated T for violence, death, gory scenes, and any other adult content.

Chapter Six

As Angela made it to the back door entrance, she could hear Michael and Andre, the sound of empty bullet cases hitting the floor.

"That was fun." Michael panted.

Andre waved his gun, beginning to reload it. "Having the time of my life."

"You could say that again." Angela said as she rounded the corner.

Michael and Andre both looked up in surprise as the brunette joined them, gun in hand.

"Where are the two survivors?" Michael asked.

"And where's Luda?" Andre questioned worriedly.

"Don't worry, Terry and Kenneth are looking after them. Ana and Luda decided to wait back there with them." Angela explained.

"Well," Michael said as he regained his breath. "We gotta' get that gate open."

Andre pointed his gun behind Michael to a set of buttons on the wall. "Push the button."

Michael stood next to the buttons by the side of the gate, loading his gun ready. Angela took her place next to Andre, both standing opposite the gate with their guns raised.

"Okay, you ready?" Michael asked, pushing himself off the wall.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Angela mumbled, while Andre gave a small grunt.

Taking a deep breath, Michael pushed the top button and quickly ran to Angela's side, his gun pointing at the gate. The gate groaned as it began to lift, but suddenly stopped with a jerk. It stuck in place as it desperately tried to lift itself. Angela sighed, lowering her gun.

"C'mon, man." Andre said. "What did you do?"

"Try pushing it again." Angela suggested.

Lowering his gun as well, Michael stepped over to the button panel, repeatedly pressing the button, though the gate stayed shut.

"Did you break it?" Andre asked, slowly becoming frustrated. "Huh?"

"It's jammed!" Michael exclaimed, giving up as he returned to the front of the gate.

"What now?" Angela asked.

Michael looked at Andre, pointing to the gate. "Okay, you open the gate, I'll cover you."

A frown appeared on Andre's face as he turned to Michael, raising his brow as he lowered his gun.

"What!" He exclaimed. "This is your stupid ass plan! You open the gate and I'll cover you."

Michael's shoulders slumped inwards as he faced Andre, his brows furrowing. Angela could see his hesitation and she sighed in frustration, pushing past the two of them.

"I'll open the damn gate." She muttered.

Putting her gun safely in the front of her jeans, an easy place she could retrieve it, she knelt and placed her hands on the grips. Pushing up, Angela gritted her teeth as she used all her force, the gate still not moving. She tried pushing even harder, the gate moving slowly, but stopping an inch later.

"A little help?" She groaned.

Both Michael and Andre looked at each other, Andre flicking his gun towards the gate. Michael sighed, holstering his gun as he knelt next to Angela. The two of them began pushing again, the gate only creaking as it stayed in place.

"Um..." Michael trailed off, the two of them turning around to face Andre, who shook his head.

"Goddamn." He sighed as he also holstered his gun, kneeling down next to Michael.

"Okay, on three." Angela instructed. "One, two, three!"

The three of them groaned as they all pushed, the gate finally raising to the top. As it opened fully, Angela came face to face with an infected, snarling as it swiped its hands at her.

"Shit!" She screamed as she leapt away, quickly grabbing her gun.

"Whoa!" Andre cried as he and Michael stumbled away as well, pulling their guns out.

The trio stepped back, the infected crawling after them. As it pulled away from the gate, they realised that its body ended at its waist, just leaving its upper half. When the truck had backed up into the gate, it must have trapped the lone infected, slicing it in half. Using its hands, the infected pulled its torso along the floor, trailing blood and intestines after it.

Angela's breath caught in her throat as her eyes widened in shock. "Holy fuck."

"Now that's... just crazy." Andre said, staring as the infected snarled at them.

The three of them shared a look of disbelief, before Michael and Andre both quickly shot it dead.

"That's some shit out of horror films." Angela mumbled as she kicked the dead half-body to the side.

"Let's just get these people and get the fuck out of here." Andre said as he knelt and unlocked the truck door.

As that door began to open, Andre stepped away, the three of them raising their guns once again. A bloodied hand suddenly appeared along with a pair of legs; a man crawled from under the door, and all three cocked their guns.

"Don't shoot!" The man suddenly yelled as he pulled himself out the truck.

Angela sighed, as she had expected another infected to jump out at them.

"Give me a hand with this?" The stranger asked as he began to push the truck door up. "We've got someone hurt in here."

Cautiously, Michael and Andre stepped forward to help him, all of them pushing the door up. Angela stayed in her place, her gun firm in her hands as she kept it pointed towards the truck. Once the door was finally open, Andre and Michael backed away, raising their guns again.

The man slowly stepped back into the truck, a girl quickly grabbing him and holding him up. Angela counted the group - six in total. Besides the man and girl, there was another tall and lean man with dark features next to them, leaning on the frame of the truck. A blonde woman stood on the other end, an elder man next to her. Angela noticed the elder man was propping up a wheelbarrow with an overweight and very sickly looking woman lying in it.

"Is this everyone?" Angela asked, taking her eyes away from the woman in the wheelbarrow.

"Pretty much, yeah." The man from before replied, wincing as the young woman held him up.

Angela looked towards Michael and Andre, who both returned their looks to her. Michael stepped forward, putting his gun away.

"Well, let's get you all inside." Michael said as he began to help them out.

Once everyone was out of the truck, Michael and Andre locked down the gate, making sure it was secure. Leading the new group back towards the others, Angela was helping Frank, the man who had opened the truck door, walk along with his daughter, Nicole. Andre had to push the woman in the wheelbarrow, as everyone was too tired or hurt to do so.

As they walked, Angela noticed the woman had a large bite wound on her arm, which was seemingly the cause of her pain. She stared at it cautiously for the rest of the journey, until they met up with the rest of the group.

"Thank God." Monica, the blonde woman of the new survivors group, moaned as they entered the heart of the mall. "I couldn't stay in that fucking truck anymore."

Ana rushed over to the group. "Alright, anybody who is injured, let's get you into Metropolis right away. I'll come and take a look at you."

"I guess that means me." Frank weekly chuckled.

"Do you need anymore help or can you make it?" Angela asked.

"No, I'm good." Frank said as he slipped his arm from her shoulders. "Nicole and I will wait in there."

As the two entered Metropolis, Angela checked up on Ana, who was tending to the sick woman in the wheelbarrow. Glenn, the elder man who had helped the sick woman in the truck, was now wheeling her into Metropolis.

"Ana." Angela said. "She has a nasty bite on her and I think that's what's causing her sickness."

Ana took a looked at the woman, biting her lip lightly. "I'll see what I can do in there. I already have Tucker, the guy who was in the cab, with an injured leg."

"Frank's in there too, the one with his daughter." Angela added as well.

"What's wrong with him?" Ana asked.

Before she could answer, Angela frowned. "I don't know actually, but he's in pretty bad shape."

"Okay, thanks." Ana said before walking through to the store.

Angela joined Michael, who was giving out bottles of water to the new survivors.

"The rest of you, we have plenty of food and water. Help should be along soon." He comforted, giving the last of the bottles away.

The man with the dark features, who had introduced himself as Steve, laughed.

"Help? Did you hear that from the same jackass who told us to go to St. Verbena?" He asked.

"The church downtown?" Michael questioned as he gave Angela a bottle of water.

"Yeah, it's the first place I went. Some dipshit on the radio said it was safe there. He was wrong." He chuckled, taking a sip of water.

"Is that where you picked them up?" Michael asked, turning to the elder woman, who had surprisingly driven the truck.

"Well, I get this call on the CV from that guy, Glenn, saying all these folks are in the chapel." She explained.

"He's a priest?" Michael asked.

"No, he plays the organ. I was in the neighbourhood, so I picked them up." She said.

Angela smiled as she patted her back."Damn, that was a hell of a brave thing to do, um..."

"Norma." The woman smiled. "The name's Norma."

"Angela." She introduced, giving Norma a smile.

Michael stared at Norma in amazement. "Well done."

"Thanks." She breathed, looking at the both of us.

From beside them, Steve cleared his throat. "When you fellas are done blowing each other, maybe Davy Crockett can tell us the deal here."

Angela rolled her eyes, stalking away towards Hallowed Grounds to make herself a well deserved coffee. As she poured the steaming liquid into a cup, a commotion between Michael and Kenneth caught her attention.

"Truck's not going to make it to Fort Pastor." Michael told Kenneth.

"What?" She whispered to herself as she walked over to them.

While approaching the two, Angela noticed that Kenneth had his gun and a black bag slung across his shoulder.

"What's going on?" Angela asked.

"I'm going to rescue my brother." Kenneth said.

"With the truck?" She said. "Kenneth, that's a suicide mission."

"No, forget the truck." Steve suddenly interjected. "That place is fucked, man. Blood bath city."

Angela's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach as she stared at Steve. "What?"

"How do you know?" Kenneth questioned.

"We just came from there." Norma replied, remorse hinted in her tone.

Kenneth looked at her, a frown on his brow. "Is everyone there dead?"

"Err, dead-ish." Steve commented.

"Is everyone there dead?" Kenneth snapped while Angela gasped silently.

"Yeah, in the sense that they all, sort of, fell down and then-"

Kenneth grabbed his things and began to march away. "I'm going to see for myself."

"You're not gonna make it." Michael stated.

"-got up, and-"

"I'll get as far as I can." Kenneth said, not even stopping to think his plan through.

While Michael and Kenneth continued to argue, the world stopped around Angela. Feeling suddenly light-headed, Angela grabbed a nearby bench to steady herself as her heart began to beat fast. Her stomach dropped as she thought of her brother, John.

There was a sliver of hope in Angela's mind that John could make it safely to Fort Pastor. She prayed that they could treat her brother there and then they could come rescue Angela and everyone else here. Angela hoped she could see her brother at least once again, but now, all that hope had shattered inside of her, leaving an empty feeling.

Voices around her brought her back into reality as tears brimmed my eyes. She saw that Kenneth had walked off, Michael following him.

"Right now, if you take one step out there…" Michael's voice faded as he walked off.

"-started eating each other." Steve finally finished, taking another sip of his water.

Angela suddenly felt sick, her throat closing as the bile in her stomach rose up. Pushing herself off the bench, she quickly staggered into Metropolis. Her breathing was out of sync as she clutched the door of the store, feeling as if she was being boxed in.

Terry, who stood awkwardly in the middle of the store, saw Angela as she slumped against the fame of the door. Running over to her, he caught her arm and steadied her as she began hyperventilating.

"Angela? Angela, are you okay?" Terry asked.

Feeling her chest tighten, she shook her head, not having the breath to form words. With wide and frightened eyes, Terry pulled her up as he turned around.

"Ana! There's something wrong with Angela!" He shouted.

Ana, who was treating the sick woman, looked up and saw the state Angela was in. Leaving a wash cloth on the woman's head, Ana ran over to Angela and grabbed her other arm, her and Terry carrying her over to a chair.

"Angela." Ana soothed as she knelt in front of her. "Angela, listen to me, you're having a panic attack."

Hearing the words 'panic attack', Angela's breathing hitched up to a fast pace, tears wetting her red cheeks. Her hands gripped the arms of the chair, nails digging into the fabric. Terry watched in horror, not knowing what to do.

Ana noticed this. "Terry, can you go and get her some water please?"

"S-sure." He stuttered, quickly running off to find some.

Ana returned her attention to Angela, softly grabbing her hands. "Angela, look at me. Copy my breathing, okay?"

As Ana began to take slow, deep breaths, Angela watched and attempted to copy. Her whole body quivered as she started to slowly calm down, her breaths becoming slow and shaky. Terry soon returned with a cup of water, handing it to Angela, who had now stopped crying and hyperventilating, though she was still shaking.

Ana smiled, rubbing Angela's arms. "You're okay, it was just a panic attack."

"Thanks." Angela whispered, taking a sip of water.

"Want to tell me what caused this?" Ana asked.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Angela lowered her head. "Fort Pastor is gone, run over by them things... my brother was there."

"Oh, Angela." Ana sighed as she pulled Angela in for a hug. "I'm so sorry."

After a moment of embrace, Angela pulled away, wiping her eyes. "I'm okay. Anyway, I think these people need your help more than I do."

Ana nodded, giving Angela a pat on the back before standing up.

"Terry, can you go and check on Frank while I tend to that woman?" Ana asked as she stood up.

"Um, sure." Terry mumbled, scratching the back of his head as he walked over to Frank and Nicole.

While Angela was left on her own, thoughts spiralled in her mind. Pictures and memories of her brother appeared behind her eyes. Grieving for her brother would be hard, but as Angela looked around the room, she knew everyone in this room had lost someone close to them. People were injured and a woman was near dying on the bed, so Angela moping on her own would do no good. She needed to be strong to help everyone else who needed it, otherwise the group would just fall apart.

Pushing all her thoughts behind her, Angela stood from the chair and looked over at Ana treated the sick woman. Somehow, they had managed to manoeuvre her from the wheelbarrow to a bed. Angela joined Ana's side, looking down at the woman with concern, who groaned and wheezed in pain.

"How is she?" She asked.

"Not too good. She's very cold and the bite wound isn't doing so well. She's got some sort of infection, but I've never seen anything like this; she doesn't have a fever, yet it's spreading fast." Ana explained, brushing the woman's grey, mattered hair out of her face.

Terry appeared by the foot of the bed, staring at the woman as if she was some sort of alien, before pointing to Frank. "That guy's arm is pretty bad over there."

Ana nodded, glancing over to Angela. "Stay with her?"

"Sure." Angela replied.

As Ana left, Terry and Angela shared a look of concern. Puss and blood leaked from her arm, Terry looking away as his face turned pale. Staring at her arm, Angela noticed the woman's veins that led from the wound were protruding and had turned black. She also realised her skin has turned a deathly grey tone, similar to the monsters outside.

Before Angela could check the sick woman any further, the woman groaned, her swollen arm grabbing her chest. Terry turned back to Angela, concern spreading across his face. Angela grabbed the woman's hand while she ran her fingers through the woman's mattered hair.

"Ma'am, can you tell me what's wrong?" Angela softly asked.

Instead of answering, her head fell to the side, wheezing for breath. Terry knelt by her side.

"You okay? Can I get you something? A glass of water?" Terry questioned.

As Angela ran her fingers through her hair, she froze as she lifted her hand to find clumps of silver hair stuck in between her fingers.

"Terry..." She gasped as she held the clumps in her hand.

Before Terry or Angela could say anything, the woman took one last gasp of breath, back arching off the bed, before her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Both Angela and Terry stood in silence, Angela lightly shaking the woman's arm.

"Ma'am?" Angela whispered, hovering her hand over the woman's mouth. "Terry, I think she's not breathing."

"What?"

"She's not breathing!" She exclaimed, moving her hands to the woman's neck to check her pulse.

"Ana, come here!" Terry yelled.

A second later, Ana appeared at Angela's side, though Angela's face paled as she turned to look at her. "There's no pulse."

Ana moved Angela out the way to check herself, checking her wrist and neck. Slowly, Ana took her hand away and grabbed the bed sheets, face blank as she pulled the thin sheet over the woman. Angela bowed her head, nudging Terry, who then took his hat off.

"Anyone know her name?" Ana asked the group in the room.

Everyone looked at each other questionably before shaking their heads.

"Died without a name." Tucker, the man with the injured foot, sighed as he took his hat off. "Damn."

As Ana began to tell the group to move into the next room, Angela sighed deeply as she turned to look at the deceased woman, only for her heart to skip a beat. The woman, who had been pronounced dead only a moment ago, suddenly sat upright. Sheer terror froze Angela's body as the thin sheet fell from the woman's face, revealing one, glossy white eye.

Behind her, the group had noticed, mouths dropping as the all gave a silent gasp. As Angela began to slowly back away, she bumped into Terry, who turned around and what was happening.

"Holy shit!" Terry shouted, stumbling away.

Ana too quickly backed away as the woman's head slowly turned towards Angela, a scream ripping from her throat as she lunged at Angela.

"Christ!" Angela yelled as she dodged the attack.

Quickly running into the next room, the newly infected woman chased her, surprisingly fast for her weight and condition. Angela jumped over a chair as to get away from her, but the heavy infected knocked it down with ease.

"Angela!" Ana suddenly yelled, picking up a fire-place poker.

Angela ran a circle, now heading back towards Ana, who raised the sharp poker ready. As she came closer to Ana, Angela swiftly fell to her knees, sliding past Ana as she jabbed the poker into the woman's head. A loud, sickening crunch echoed through the room, followed by a loud thud.

"Holy shit!" Ana gasped, picking up Angela from the floor. "Oh shit!"

"Jesus..." Angela panted, looking as a pool of thick blood formed around the woman's head.

Terry meekly peeked his head from the next room. "You two okay?"

"Fine and dandy." Angela replied, still out of breath as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Oh, Terry?"

"Yeah?"

"Go and get a fucking mop and bucket, would ya'."

After wrapping the body in plastic sheets, Andre, Michael, and Terry carried and threw the body off the roof, while Angela mopped up the blood. Ana, who had recovered from the incident, continued to treat Tucker and Frank's injuries, though when everyone returned, she called the original group, besides Luda, to Hollowed Grounds for a meeting.

"So, what's this 'meeting' about?" Andre asked, making a cup of coffee.

Taking a deep breath, Ana glanced at the group. "I think I know what's causing all this."

The group, bar Angela, frowned at her.

"How?" Michael asked.

"I think it's the bites." She said.

"That woman was bitten." Angela pointed out.

Ana nodded. "Frank said she was walking on her own five hours ago. The bites killed her. The bites brought her back."

"How do you know?" Andre interrupted, seeming slightly agitated.

"I watched it happen, I felt her pulse; she was gone." Ana explained. "Then, yesterday, I saw the same thing happen."

"I've seen it as well." Angela said, swallowing a lump in her throat. "Haven't you noticed, though? All those things out there have some sort of bite or wound on them."

"Exactly." Ana stated. "I think that's why it spreads so fast."

"Thing is, though," Angela suddenly said. "It seems that people who are bitten only turn when they die, by either their bite or their wounds."

"Wait, hold the fuck up." Andre suddenly said. "Are you saying we're dealing with fucking zombies out there?"

Angela sighed, remembering the debate she had yesterday. "Well, you could say that."

Before Andre could question further, Michael interrupted, stepping forward.

"Look, we'll discus that another time." He said, turning to Ana. "Alright, so who else in the group was bitten?"

"Well, Frank, for sure." Ana said.

"What about the one with the foot?" Michael asked

Ana sipped her coffee, frowning. "Tucker? He says no, he fell."

Quietly, while no one was looking, Andre slipped away from the group, walking off on his own. Angela noticed this from the corner of her eyes, also noticing his strange behaviour. Rather than dwell on the thoughts, she returned to the conversation.

"So, it's Frank, tall guy." Michael mumbled. "Right?"

"Yeah, we'll have to quarantine him right away." Ana said.

"Where exactly do we do that?" Kenneth asked, speaking for the first time.

Ana shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, there has to be some place to keep him in here."

"Then what?" Michael asked.

"I don't know. But..." Ana trailed off, not knowing what to say.

By the tone of Kenneth and Michael's voices, Angela knew what they meant. Terry looked down at his feet, shoving his hands in his pockets, as he knew what Michael and Kenneth meant.

"It's too dangerous to keep him here." Michael stated.

Mouth agape, Ana looked around the group, landing on Kenneth, who glanced at her while still cleaning his gun. She turned back to Michael, brows knitted together.

"I'm sorry, are we talking about killing him?" She asked in disbelief.

"You'd rather wait for him to die and then he kills us?"

"Y-yes - no - you can't kill him!" She snapped. "He's got a daughter!"

Michael shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't think there's any other choice."

Grabbing his gun, Michael stood from his stool, walking off towards Metropolis. Ana stared after him, turning towards Kenneth with a frown.

"He's right." Kenneth mumbled.

Ana then turned to Angela, hoping she would back her up, but Angela shrugged her shoulders, turning away.

"Sorry, but it's the only way, Ana. We can't take the risk of putting more lives in danger." She whispered.

Finding no support from the group, Ana stood from her chair, running after Michael.

"Michael, no! What if I'm wrong?" She yelled, running to his side as Angela, Terry, and Kenneth began to follow.

"You've seen it happen before." He replied.

Giving an exasperated sigh, Ana began to run ahead of the group. Michael shook his head as he looked at Angela, the two of them knowing what Ana was going to do. Angela decided to run ahead to catch up with Ana, hoping she could calm her down. As Angela entered the store though, she saw Ana standing in front of Frank and Nicole, arms crossed.

"Michael's coming to shoot you." Ana stated loudly.

"Ana!" Angela hissed as the rest of the group entered the store.

Both Frank and Nicole's eyes widened in shock, Frank turning to Angela. "What?

"You're infected." Ana said. "You're going to become one of them."

Michael stood beside Ana, gun hidden by his side as he gave Frank a sullen look. Looking up him, Frank nervously chuckled, grabbing Nicole's hand.

"Is this true?" He asked. "Are you here to kill me?"

"You were bitten." Michael stated sadly. "It's only a matter of time."

With a panicked expression, Nicole suddenly jumped into her fathers arms defensively, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"No. No. No! Leave my dad alone." She began to cry, her voice muffled as she nuzzled her head into his neck. "Go away! You can't do this."

Frank comforted her, looking up at the group. "You have to understand that she's lost everyone. Her mother, her two brothers... I'm all she's got." He explained.

Hearing Franks tragic story, Ana turned to Michael, hands on her hips as she have him an angered look.

"Well, Michael, what are you waiting for?" She asked. "Go ahead. Kill him."

She then pointed a finger at Tucker. "Hey, kill Tucker, too."

Tucker, who had sat in the corner quietly, began to panic, trying to stand up.

"Wait a minute, I was never bit!" He exclaimed, scared they were going to turn on him.

"No, no." Angela sighed, trying to calm the situation. "We know that, Tucker."

"We can't be sure." Ana interrupted, turning back to Michael. "Do it, Michael."

"Ana, that's enough!" Angela snapped, giving her a stern look.

Frank, who had soothed his daughter, looked up at the group desperately. "Are you sure it's the bite?"

Ana was silent before shaking her head. "No."

"She's sure." Michael stated. "I'm sorry."

A pained sob left Nicole, causing Angela to flinch. She looked at Frank with sad eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered.

A small smile graced Frank's lips as he looked at Angela, leaning down to place a kiss on Nicole's head.

"We'll give you some time." Michael said, gathering the group to leave.

When they left the distraught father and daughter alone, they re-grouped back at Hallowed Grounds. They began a discussion, figuring out a place they could quarantine Frank, so when he did finally turn, someone could put him down straight away.

"What about that electronics store? That's small enough to quarantine him and it also has shutters we could use, just in case." Angela suggested to the group.

"That'll work." Kenneth said.

"Okay," Michael nodded. "We've got our quarantine zone. Now, we just need someone to..."

As he trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence, he looked around the group. Everyone remained silent, no one volunteering to do the dreaded deed. Terry shook his head, pushing himself away from the counter.

"I can't do this. I'm sorry, but I can't think about this now." He whispered, taking a deep breath. "I'll go and check on C.J and Bart."

Angela nodded, understanding how Terry felt. She knew not to be angry at him; everyone was dealing with the same situation, but Terry was still only a kid, so it would impact him much more than anyone else.

As Terry quickly left to the elevators, Michael sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Someone needs to do it." He whispered.

Angela sighed. "Well, who wants to do it?"

Another moment of silence followed, before the squeaking of a chair broke it as Kenneth stood up. Pumping his shotgun, he nodded his head.

"I'll do it."

"Are you sure?" Angela questioned, giving him a wary look.

"Just let him do it." Ana scoffed, hastily pushing her chair as she stood and walked off.

Angela noticed Michael staring off after her and she sighed, patting his back.

"She just needs time to grasp the reality of the situation." She said.

Giving a small smile, Michael stood up straight, holstering his gun. "Yeah, I know."

"We doing this?" Kenneth asked.

"I guess so." Michael sighed.

Angela felt her stomach drop as she thought of Frank and Nicole. She couldn't bear the thought of what they were going through. Standing from her chair, Angela sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Um, I'm going to help Terry in the security room." She mumbled.

"Okay." Michael replied, giving her a weak smile.

Turning in her heals, Angela made her way to the elevator, pushing the button to the second floor as she leant on the wall of the elevator. When on the second floor, she lazily walked towards the heavy door of the security room, which was situated down a small corridor.

Before Angela entered the security room, she could already hear the hassles from Bart and C.J.

"C'mon, Terry, let us out." Bart whined, slumped against the railings.

"Terry, you had better let us out now, you fucking idiot!" C.J snapped as Angela entered the room.

Hearing Angela enter the room, Terry turned around to greet her. "Hey."

"Hey." Angela copied back, letting herself fall on one of the couches with a tired sigh.

Terry awkwardly scratched his head as he sat next to her, swallowing the hard lump that had formed in the back of his throat.

"So, who's doing, you know, the..." He stuttered, not daring to say the words, though Angela knew what he meant.

"Kenneth." She answered, looking down at her hands.

"Oh." Terry nodded, looking away towards the monitors. "How's his daughter?"

"Nicole?" Angela said, raising her head. "Not too good, but then again, would you be if you knew your dad was infectedand about to get shot?"

As Angela finished her sentence, she looked over at Terry, realising he wasn't even looking at her. Instead, he stared intently at the security monitors, never taking his eyes off one in particular. Angela realised the one he was staring at showed Nicole, who was curled in a ball, sobbing her heart out in one of the clothing stores.

As the girl on the screen quivered while she cried, a pained expression fell across Terry's face. It was like he was staring at an injured animal; he could do nothing to ease her suffering and pain, which he so desperately wanted to do.

Angela noticed this, sighing as she nudged Terry.

"Go to her."

Hearing Angela's words, Terry finally turned away from the monitors, frowning in confusion.

"Go to her?" He questioned. "And do what?"

A small smile appeared on Angela's lips as she shook her head. "Speak to her, comfort her."

"Do you think I can do that?" He asked.

"Well, it's either that or sit here and stare at her through the monitors." She replied, leaning back into the couch.

After a moment of thinking, Terry turned to Angela, pointing to towards the cell.

"What about them two?" He asked. "Will you be okay on your own with them?"

"Terry, they're stuck in that cell, I'm sure they can't do much behind them bars." Angela chuckled, receiving a huff from C.J.

"Anyway, I have this." She continued, pulling her gun out. "Now, you go and find her."

"Okay." Terry said, standing from the couch.

As he made his way towards the door, he gave Angela a small smile before looking at the monitor one last time. When Terry disappeared, Angela sighed as she glanced at the monitor.

"Aw, what an adorable fucking love story." A sarcastic voice suddenly called out.

Rolling her eyes, Angela ignored C.J, turning away from the monitors. She began to fiddle with her fingers, boredom setting in. Behind her, C.J sat against the cell door, looking at Angela.

"I see McFatty almost got you." He smirked, pointing to the monitors.

"Shut up, C.J." She muttered, not bothering to turn to face him.

"I told you," He began, ignoring her last comment. "You were going to let sick people in."

"Didn't I just say shut up?" Angela snapped, her patience slowly breaking.

C.J chuckled darkly. "Y'know, I thought you were quite smart, but look what you've done. You let two infected people in, nearly got killed by one, now waiting to shoot the other one. How do you know anyone else isn't sick?"

Turning around to face him, Angela's dark, angry eyes glared at him.

"Shut your fucking mouth." She spat.

C.J suddenly laughed, a low whistle coming from his mouth.

"Oh, pretty thing like you shouldn't be talking like that." He smirked, giving Angela a wink. "There are lots of other better ways you can use that mouth."

As Bart started to laugh, Angela's temper snapped. Cheeks flushed red from C.J's comment, Angela pushed herself from the couch, marching over to the cell. Realising how livid Angela was, Bart's laughter quickly died down, shuffling backwards into the corner.

Reaching the cell door, Angela's foot suddenly collided with it, the steel mesh shaking violently as she repeatedly kicked the door.

"Shut up!" Angela screamed, her frustration, that had boiled for the past two days finally realising. "Just shut the fuck up!"

Both men in the cell stared with shocked eyes as they watched the woman kick and scream at the cell, seething anger dripping from her. C.J repeatedly pissing her off had started her mad frenzy, but now as she kicked the door again, it was the many disasters caused by this outbreak that fed her outburst. Her anger and grief for her brother and best friend, her sadness from watching people die, her frustration because she knew she couldn't do anything about it all.

Just as she was about the kick the door once more, a monstrous scream sounded in the distance, closely followed by a gun shot that echoed throughout the mall. A cold shiver ran up Angela's spine as the hairs stood up on the back of her neck.

Suddenly losing all her adrenalin, Angela slumped against the cell door, letting her body slide down it. She sat on the floor, her head leaning on the mesh as she hugged her legs. With all of her anger and frustration gone, her foot began to throb with pain.

Beside her, on the other side of the door, C.J appeared next to her. He too sat against the mesh, his face inches away from Angela. They both sat in silence for a moment, before C.J cleared his throat.

"Y'know, you can fuck your foot up by doing that." He stated quietly.

Angela gave a small, breathless chuckle, though her expression didn't flinch. "You don't say?"

As the room fell silent again, C.J turned to face Angela directly, who stared down solemnly at her lap.

"You never answered my question." He said.

Confused, Angela raised her head, tilting it slightly as she stared back at C.J.

"What question?" She asked.

"Where did you get that gun?" He asked, pointing to the holstered gun in Angela's jeans.

Angela smiled sheepishly, pulling it out to inspect it.

"When you forced me to go on clean up duty with you, I found it by the fountain. I guess your friend, Ben, must have dropped it or something." She explained.

"Wait, so how the fuck did you manage to sneak it past me?" He questioned.

Angela smirked. "I just picked it up when none of you were looking."

"Shit, I knew you were up to no good when you stayed by that fountain!" He exclaimed, pulling his hat off to scratch his head. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"I wouldn't say stupid." Angela said. "Maybe careless."

"Yeah, well, being careless can put lives at risk." He grumbled.

If she could, Angela would laugh in his face and call him a hypocrite. Instead, though, she sighed, hugging her knees tighter.

"I suppose it can."


End file.
